Masawa Minute 109

The alarming Mental State of the World report | Hello from ChangeNOW! | + More! 😺

This is the Masawa Minute — mental wellness, social impact, and impact investing snippets from what we’ve read and created in the last month + where you can get active.

This week, Masawa is on the ground at ChangeNOW, soaking in the inspiration and innovative ideas sparking all around us. As a result, our newsletter this week is all about challenging existing paradigms and igniting large-scale change in global health and wellbeing.

Masawa at ChangeNOW

This week, Masawa is making waves at ChangeNOW in Paris. We’re especially thrilled that yesterday Sabine had a chance to moderate a pivotal conversation on the Circle stage, delving into governance and ownership, spotlighting the financing of new corporate models that blend business with purpose and evolving relationships between investors, their portfolio entities, and clients.

Of course, we couldn’t go without highlighting our pioneering Nurture Capital approach, aimed at changing the trust paradigm and power imbalance between investors & founders, e.g. a solidarity capital, a soft-landing package, and a support framework tailored specifically to meet founders’ needs, enabling them to enhance their wellbeing, leadership capabilities, and team resilience.

Besides that, we’re meeting many new and familiar faces and plotting the path towards a more sustainable future with mental health at its core. We’ll have more to share with you very soon!

Masawa Thoughts: Interview with Sabine

Recently, Sabine sat down for an open and very human conversation with SuperReturn’s Managing Director, Dr. Dorothy Kelso. They chat about embracing vulnerability in leadership, all things Nurture Capital, Sabine’s journey of self-acceptance and how it shaped her approach to fostering deeper, more meaningful partnerships in the business world. This interview not only sheds light on the challenges and opportunities within impact investing but also highlights the critical role of empathy and understanding in driving change and achieving success — the values that are the very essence of Masawa. Check it out!

Read here!

This Week’s Story

From Distressed to Thriving: Understanding the world’s mental health landscape

A couple of weeks ago, Sapien Labs published the latest edition of the Mental State of the World report — and the findings are alarming. Based on a survey of over 400 000 individuals across 71 countries, it’s evident that our brains are not equipped to keep up with the rapid modernization of the world. It’s also clear that global wellbeing is yet to bounce back from the downturn experienced during and right after the pandemic, raising concerns about the long-term impact of “the new normal”.

This report offers an extraordinary insight into the psychological state of people worldwide. Measuring wellbeing isn’t the easiest task, especially when it requires cross-cultural examination. However, the report handled this endeavor by establishing a mental health quotient rooted in various academic and clinical assessments, ultimately identifying 47 critical dimensions of mental health. This approach produces scores on a 300-point scale, ranging between distressed and thriving. Alarmingly, the current global average hovers at 65, barely above the “enduring” category, signifying a state of mere “managing.”.

So why is everyone struggling so much? It seems that the very pillars of modern life — excessive smartphone usage, consumption of ultra-processed foods, and the erosion of close family ties — are to blame. Several African and Latin American countries outperform the Global North, suggesting that wealth and economic progress do not equate to better mental wellbeing after all. This revelation is not particularly surprising, as prioritizing boundless economic growth above human needs leads to harmful consumption patterns and social isolation, among other adverse consequences. It’s becoming increasingly clear: the modern lifestyle is not only a threat to our planet but to our (mental) health too.

→ See the report for yourself here.

The world’s mental health is in rough shape — and not getting any better, a new report finds

What else we’re reading…

🌴 Enabling leaders to take sabbaticals is essential for organizational health, as rest is crucial for leaders and teams alike. Such breaks not only rejuvenate their drive and purpose but also set an example for the entire team, facilitating a culture of work-life balance. While the article discusses philanthropy foundations and their grantees, this is equally applicable to the VC context: the transformative impact of rest underscores the need for investments that empower leaders and their teams to prioritize wellbeing.

☀️ While on the topic of long-term wellbeing, it’s worth looking back on Dr. Robert Waldinger’s study on human happiness, the longest ever conducted, which reveals the key to lifelong health and fulfillment. The number one insight is — you guessed it — the importance of close relationships and social connections: it’s essential for resilience and managing stress. Moreover, people with robust social networks consistently show lower rates of mental and physical health issues as they age.

💃 It’s no secret that women still face disproportional challenges in medical settings, including dismissal and misdiagnosis. This pattern, rooted in a long-standing neglect of women’s health, has particularly severe implications for women of color. Until there’s a systemic change, women must navigate these challenges by prioritizing self-advocacy and seeking healthcare providers who respect and understand their unique health needs.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Research demonstrates that middle-aged adults in the US report significantly higher levels of loneliness compared to Europeans, possibly due to weaker family ties and greater income inequality. The study, analyzing over 53 000 participants, indicates a growing “loneliness gap” between the two continents largely determined by cultural norms, socioeconomic influences and social safety nets.

❤️‍🩹 Addressing the women’s health gap is absolutely crucial — it could benefit up to 3.9 billion women globally by adding up to 500 healthy days per lifetime and boost the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040. Despite women living longer, they spend 25% more of their lives in poor health: reducing the healthcare gap necessitates investing in women-specific research, enhancing data collection, increasing access to care, and implementing supportive policies.

Gabija Vilkaitė