Numbers are not my cup of tea, but I do my part.
One day, a long time ago, in a faraway place, or so the legend goes, there was a huge forest fire that was raging through the countryside. All the animals were terrified, running around in circles, screaming, crying and helplessly watching the impending disaster.
But there, in the middle of the flames, and above the cowering animals, was a tiny hummingbird busy flying from a small pond to the fire, each time fetching a few drops with its beak to throw on the flames, again andagain.
After a while, a grouchy old armadillo, annoyed by this ridiculous useless agitation on the part of the hummingbird, cried out: “Tiny bird! Don’t be a fool. It is not with those minuscule drops of water that you are going to put out the fire and save us all! ”
To which the hummingbird replied, “Maybe, but I’m going to do my part.”
source (FR) : https://www.colibris-lemouvement.org/mouvement/nos-valeurs
When Paul Allard came to me with his idea of an ethical bank, based on the Triodos Bank business model, I took special care in reminding him just how much I hated numbers, how painful my relationship with money was and that, by the way, it was rich from him to embark in such a project!!! He decently agreed on all points, then kept on insisting. In hopes of discouraging him I put forward such conditions that, to me, seemed in conflict with his project. So I said: “Alright, but we shall take all of our decisions while systematically trying to make humans the center of our focus (1st principle of the Rio 1992 Earth Summit Declaration), we shall NEVER be subordinated to shareholders whose only concern is “to maximize profits”. We will have to do our due diligence in order to be as COHERENT as possible between the values we advocate and those that we will actually live by internally, have an innovative approach forming part of the co-creativity we will have as we move along and… a “fun” title as well.”
Today I am Chief Happiness Officer, in French “Responsable des richesses Humaines”. I am now the world’s happiest person because I’ve managed to make my two worlds come to life: Sustainable Development and the processes of Collective Intelligence. In both case it’s the human aspect that motivates me. The well-being and survival of our species has been the focus of my work, my fight for as long as I can remember. I quickly understood that the usual indicators and measures, such as GDP and shareholders’ profits, could not allow us to make the decisions we needed, decisions that were really “good”.
Do we measure what really matters?
One day, at a conference titled “War and Environment”, someone told me that nothing was as polluting as poverty. Beyond the simple provocation there lies a shocking truth: social and environmental issues are interconnected. I probably am not the best one at playing with numbers, but some of those numbers are strong enough to make me question what we measure and realize that we do not measure the right things, by far. To name but a few from the findings of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals:
- More than 700 million people are still living in extreme poverty and can’t afford basic needs such as healthcare, education, access to clean water and sanitation.
- There are close to 800 million people that suffer from hunger around the world, more than one in every ten people.
- Globally, 103 million young people have not acquired the basic education, and more than 60% of those young people are women.
- Energy, the most important factor contributing to climate change, is responsible for close to 60% of the world’s GHG emissions. And at the same time, more than 1.2 billion people don’t have an access to electricity, that’s one fifth of the world’s inhabitants.
- On 8300 animal breeds known to the world, 8% are already extinguished and 22% are close to extinction.
There is no obligation to linger on those “depressing” numbers, but being aware of their existence is ESSENTIAL. Saying that we did not know will never be an excuse anymore.
What motivates me at impak Finance is that we decided to be on the solutions side. Our objective is to make the Impact Economy grow. We want to provide those thinking that economic development does not have to mean the destruction of ecosystems and an increase in inequalities with the means to deploy themselves and their projects.
How does impak Finance define the Impact Economy?
impak Finance has a systemic thinking that places human beings at the heart of concerns. We take into consideration the impact on both the current generations and future generations, and this for all the inhabitants of the planet.
This must be reflected in the search for a Social Purpose, Ecological Requirement, Economic Efficiency and Inclusive Governance.
We therefore support organizations that have a clear and affirmed INTENTIONALITY to address a social and/or environmental issue, whatever their legal status (corporation — Inc., nonprofit organizations, cooperatives, etc.). We will be attentive to the impact they have, both through their activities (positive direct impact) and by their innovative way of doing business (governance, new business model, etc.). We place ourselves both in the transformative economy and in the restorative economy.
On our technological platform, impak.eco, both citizens and investors will have access to the impak profile of each organization. Profile that will ensure that they will have passed a rigorous filter proving their INTENTIONALITY to have a social and/or environmental impact. This will be reflected in the identification of at least 2 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for which they are committed to providing and updating key performance indicators.
For example, an organization identifying itself with the following SDGs:
Could provide and update key performance indicators such as:
- To create XXX jobs
- To recycle XXX objects over a 12 months period.
Imagine a world in which we travel using electric transport (Téo Taxi), where we eat truly local honey (Alvéole), where the waste of some become the raw materials of others (Hop Compost) while facilitating social integration (Renaissance) , a world in which even the most isolated communities have access to locally produced sustainable food (Urban Food Ecosystems) and not only reliable but renewable energy (Aki Energy). A world in which smart gadgets help us not to be even more connected but to manage our energy consumption (Ecobee), and a world in which the energy for our festivals is produced in a renewable and silent way (Portable Electric) ….
The examples are innumerable and all as inspiring as each other. Those are operating businesses, and we want you and everyone else to hear about them and the change they are making. That is the purpose of the impak.eco.
And to support and accelerate the growth of this transformative ecosystem we are launching the impak Coin, a cryptocurrency exclusively dedicated to the growth of the Impact Economy. It will be stable (no speculation), ultra-fast, energy efficient, secure, without transaction fees (within the ecosystem and its participants) and based on value creation.
We need to walk the talk!
It’s not enough to make rules and ensure compliance, without putting our values into practice for ourselves. So we set up working groups with everyone at impak Finance. The objective here is to start the process leading to the BCorp certification. It prompts us to think about the Governance, Environment, Employees, Community and Impact of the Business Model requirements. By doing so, each one of us will be able to get to grips with these complex concepts and help them come to life at his own level.
In this process of collective intelligence, everyone has the opportunity to form, to understand and live the concepts, and to bring new and spontaneous propositions in a spirit of conviviality. This gives us a concrete way to live our VALUES: Transparency, Empowerment, Innovation and Co-creativity, Benevolence and Pleasure
Everyone is doing their part
We live in exciting times. There are change-makers all around who shake their world everyday to do their part. From the smallest drop to the fire truck, each one of them at their level is extinguishing the fire, and sometimes even preparing the new forest that will take over. They have the power to turn the tide. WE have the power to change the world.
As far as I am concerned I still do not like numbers, but if I can help in giving them meaning for those who love them, I will have done my part.
Thank you,
Tima Gros,
Chief Happiness Officer
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