We often hear about tradeoffs in impact investing - impact or profit, people or planet. Cecile’s journey to lead impact at Israel's largest VC shows that it’s not either or. It's interconnected.
THE IMPACT. Cecile:
- Is Head of Impact and Sustainability at Pitango Venture Capital, Israel’s largest VC fund, where she merges technology, profit and social impact
- Co-founded GITA, the Global Impact Tech Alliance, a new organization to empower tech innovations to achieve the SDGs
- Previously founded Impact First Investments, Israel’s first impact investing company; managed the Noaber Foundation’s Israeli investments for over 14 years, and held executive positions at several companies
THE JOURNEY. In our conversation, we explore:
- Early influences - martial arts, entrepreneurship, rebalancing capital and values
- Impact investing, from 20 years ago to now - from its own asset class to a mindset shift
- False tradeoffs in impact investing - profit vs. impact, people vs. planet, incremental vs. systemic
- Two types of companies - impact natives and impact migrants
- A surprise on the people side - you don’t need to convince companies or investors
