elea

“Philanthropic impact investors like elea possess a higher risk appetite and provide patient capital because achieving impact is our primary goal, all while ensuring that we invest in viable businesses,” states Lisa Jean-Mairet, who leads the elea Africa Hub in Johannesburg. In this video, Lisa Jean-Mairet and Ijangolet “Ija” Ogwang present our investment approach to participants at the Anzisha Summit, organized by African Leadership Academy (ALA), during a breakout session. Attendees also had the opportunity to explore our investment mandate and gained hands-on experience evaluating an impact venture through elea’s unique perspective. We are thrilled to support The Anzisha Prize, an ALA initiative dedicated to significantly increasing the number of job-generating entrepreneurs in Africa. This initiative identifies, trains, and connects ambitious young entrepreneurs under the age of 23, empowering them with the leadership skills needed to build successful businesses. Through our partnership with ALA, we continue to expand our contribution to the African ecosystem by supporting the education of the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. Watch the video to discover more!

🌏 What does it take to create sustainable impact through entrepreneurship? A recent event hosted by the Asia Community Foundation and featuring Peter Wuffli from elea, Zhihan Lee from BagoSphere, and Shuvavish Bhowmick from ATEC Global highlighted key strategies for building and supporting sustainable impact through entrepreneurship: ⏳ Long-Term Impact Requires Patient Capital: For businesses aimed at tackling issues like absolute poverty, especially in challenging sectors such as farming and micro-retail, patient capital is crucial. Investments need time to yield results, and setting realistic expectations on returns helps ensure long-lasting impact. 👤 Investing in People, Not Just Ideas: The value of a business starts with the people behind it. Thorough due diligence and building trust with entrepreneurs are essential for de-risking and aligning on goals. Ultimately, it is about supporting individuals who have both the passion and resilience to make a difference. 📊 Sustainable Business Models Are Key to Scaling: Achieving scalable impact requires financially sustainable models. Businesses in the impact space are increasingly focusing on financial viability, as it is the foundation for growing and amplifying their influence over time. It is inspiring to see how investing in the right people and providing the right kind of capital can drive change. 🌱 ➡️ Read more about how Asia Community Foundation's Impact Funds are driving sustainable impact across some of Southeast Asia's most pressing issues here: https://lnkd.in/gWqCCHHf #impactinvesting #impactentrepreneurship #patientcapital 📸: Asia Community Foundation

“Preparation never betrays you," states orchestra conductor Holly Choe. We had the privilege of hosting Holly Choe, a rising star in orchestra conducting, for an interview with our entrepreneurs’ community. Her insights on leadership resonate far beyond the rehearsal room and into the world of business. The session engaged entrepreneurs of our portfolio, who could benefit from her perspective and apply it to their entrepreneurial journey. Among our favorite takeaways were insights on effective feedback and handling unknown situations: 🎼 Motivating feedback: Holly highlighted the power of aligning everyone toward a common goal. “Feedback is not about judgment; it is about connecting to a shared purpose.” One technique she uses is framing feedback as an opportunity to improve your leadership, and focusing on solutions without criticism. For instance, if an instrument is lagging in rehearsal, she says, “Could you lead your first violin colleagues?” rather than “hurry up.” 🎼 Embracing modesty in high-pressure environments: Holly conducts many orchestras over the course of each year. She must quickly adjust to new people, talent levels, and group dynamics. She shared that she works with orchestras at all levels: youth, university, amateur, and professional orchestras. In all situations, she ensures that she is fully prepared for the encounter to ensure she has the chance to give her best. She emphasized that “Preparation never betrays you.” When the orchestra is above her talent level, she focuses on the learning. She reminds herself, “I am on a lifelong journey as a conductor. I still have 60 years left to improve!” Thank you, Holly, for the memorable session! 🫶

Spent the last 2days representing elea at the Africa Venture Philanthropic Alliance conference exploring Catalysing Africa’s Sustainable Growth. Here are some questions, comments and thoughts: 1. As investors we need to see our individual contributions as a linkage in a long chain. 2. How do we deliver services to segments of the market that simply cannot afford services that they need? How do models determine where technology can optimise operations and reduce costs, driving accessibility? 3. How do we bring innovators, policy makers, entrepreneurs and communities into the same room to practically drive change in the same direction. Particularly being deliberate in including community voices in innovation. Lastly, the African continent has always been home to big optimism inspite of challenges and therefore fertile ground for innovation. Re-energised in the continued effort of being a link in the chain. #Africa #impactinvesting #entrepreneurship #impact

On a panel at elea's Philanthropic Investors Circle dinner, I was asked to reflect why BagoSphere is structured as a for-profit rather than a non-profit. South East Asia 🌏 has 240 million informal workers, many of them are in poverty or on the verge of becoming so. The scope of the problem necessitates market-based solutions. In the domain of employable skills, we believe that sustainable businesses are more scalable and innovative than traditional non-profits. There are far too many million-dollar international aid/donor funded upskilling projects in the Philippines that doesn't work, at the end of the day, the money will stop - what then? How do we create market-driven solutions to poverty and employability? First and foremost, getting our students hired was the easy part - the impact was life-changing - for $500 we are able to take an informal worker and help him/her secure a job within 2-4 months, with a monthly pay of $350. However, like many startups, we really struggled with the business model for a long time before figuring it out. The thing is, even pure commercial startups might take a few years to figure out their business model; imagine market-based solutions to complex social problems! Hence, our question is: who will fund the innovation and experimentation of impact-first startups? In commercial startups, we have HNWs and VCs are willing to invest in risky startups - despite the fact that the failure rate is >90%. In social enterprises, where the failure rate is likely to be the same or higher, and the stakes (poverty, environment, etc) are even higher - but who will finance something that carries so much risk and, even if successful, has significantly lower market-based returns? Social entrepreneurs need a new kind of financing and a new animal to call our own - #Giraffes! If the VCs can claim a mystical animal, then I think its only right that we find a real animal🦒. And as Giraffes, we need help from other Giraffes who can extend support in terms of "Giraffe capital". A new age of innovative funders like elea, xchange PH, Firetree Philanthropy Foundation, Asia Community Foundation, Fossil Foundation, EMpower—The Emerging Markets Foundation are emerging. They are: ❤️ Compassionate: Giraffes have one of the strongest hearts in the whole animal kingdom, weighing 11kg! Funders act with kindness and compassion, and fund social enterprises that create long-lasting impact. 🔭 Long-term: Giraffes have long, flexible necks. Funders have a long-term view, see the bigger picture, and act in accordance to this long term view. Profit is just the fuel. As Peter Wuffli puts it, a social entrepreneur sees their work continuing over generations. 🤗 Community-focused: Giraffes are social creatures. Funders put social impact, values, ethics, sustainability and community first. When you see a Giraffe next time, I hope you get inspired! Pics from the panel: Paula of Arbusta, Jess of BluLever Education, expertly moderated by Amanda!

Just touched down in Singapore 🇸🇬for an inspiring event. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to share ATEC’s story with global audiences. Sharing our journey and mission has truly become a passion for me. I’m incredibly honored and humbled to have shared the stage with distinguished leaders like Peter Wuffli , Zhihan Lee and visionary impact investors. A huge thank you to elea and the Asia Community Foundation teams for the impeccable organization and for bringing together such a dynamic community.

Our global team is expanding! We are delighted to welcome Arian Schül, Ester Bortot, and Khaya Makhubu to our offices in Zurich and Johannesburg, where they strengthen our efforts to fight absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means.   As Directors, they bring complementary strengths to our investment team, contributing to pipeline management, due diligence, and value creation. Additionally, Ester and Khaya will play an important role in advancing the elea Africa Hub and its alignment with elea’s broader objectives.   Arian worked with impact ventures in East Africa and as a strategy consultant for global corporates and non-profit organizations. “I am excited to bring together commercial viability and impact at scale with elea.”   Ester has built her career with a range of mission-driven start-ups in Africa and the UK, following her initial work in the financial services sector. “Starting this new chapter with a purpose-driven team is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with talented entrepreneurs and scale lasting solutions to the problem of poverty.”   Khaya's background includes extensive work in philanthropic and impact investing advisory, as well as management consulting. “I feel so lucky to have found elea. There is such strong alignment between elea’s purpose and my personal values. I look forward to contributing to the journeys of mission-driven entrepreneurs.” We warmly welcome Arian, Ester, and Khaya to the elea team and wish them a great continuation of their impact investing journey!

Impact Investing in der Praxis: So bewirken Sie mehr 👇 Was bedeutet es, unternehmerische Rechtsformen zu fördern? Welche Formen der Unterstützung kommen in Frage - und wie stellen Sie sicher, dass der gemeinnützige Zweck im Zentrum steht? Im Bootcamp beleuchten wir gemeinsam mit SwissFoundations, dem Zentrum für Stiftungsrecht, elea und Purpose Schweiz die Chancen und Risiken des Ansatzes. Erfahren Sie hier mehr über die Inhalte des Bootcamps: https://lnkd.in/dWHfCh93 Details: 📅 20. November 🕘 09:00 bis 15:00 Uhr 📍 vor Ort in Basel oder online via Livestream Preis für Nonprofits: 290.- (online) / 490.- (vor Ort) Preis für Funders: 490.- (online) / 690.- (vor Ort) Lukas Hotz Isabelle von Jeinsen Maximilian Martin, Ph.D. Thimo Wittkämper Stefan Schöbi

🎉 Calling all wastepreneurs & circular innovators in India ♻️ Are you an entrepreneur tackling the plastics or textiles and fashion waste challenge? The Dignified Jobs Accelerator is building a cohort of passionate impact entrepreneurs, dedicated to driving innovation and creating jobs in waste management and circularity. Join this 9-month program if you are transforming the plastics, textiles, or fashion value chains!  Brought to you by Upaya Social Ventures, Global Business Inroads (GBI), and rePurpose Global, the program offers deep expertise, access to global networks, and financing opportunities. It is designed to support businesses operating in low-income communities that work closely with sanitation workers or rural communities – the first-mile in the waste management value chain.   elea proudly supports the program as an investor partner. We can’t wait to meet with impactful companies that not only address the waste challenge but also improve livelihoods for low-income communities. Don’t miss this opportunity and apply by November 15th  Circular Innovation Cohort 2025 — Upaya Social Ventures (upayasv.org).  #Wastepreneurs #CircularEconomy #SocialImpact #India #DignifiedJobs 

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunities are not,” stated Paula Cardenau at our annual elea Philanthropic Investors’ Circle Dinner, which this year put a spotlight on one of the greatest challenges in fighting absolute poverty: How to tackle youth unemployment and equip young people with the skills to find a job and earn a living after basic education. During a panel discussion, moderated by Amanda Turner Ege, three exceptional entrepreneurs from pioneering elea portfolio ventures – Jess Roussos (BluLever Education), Paula Cardenau (Arbusta), and Zhihan Lee (BagoSphere) – shared insightful reflections. Their ventures are among the most impactful in our portfolio as their solutions have a profound effect on individuals’ life trajectories. On stage, they discussed market-driven solutions that empower youth from underserved communities to gain skills, secure meaningful employment, and build career paths previously out of reach. The dinner offered philanthropic investors, impact entrepreneurs, fellow impact investors, and the elea team an opportunity to connect. We extend our heartfelt thanks to our board, the elea Comité de Patronage, and all our investors and friends of elea for their invaluable support and friendship. As Andreas R. Kirchschlaeger concluded, “We are convinced that poverty can be successfully fought and therefore does not need to be destiny.”