Romain Diaz_E30: The Right Why [6/16/2021]

Romain Diaz, Founder and CEO at Satgana in Lisbon [6–16–2021]

https://anchor.fm/posi2ive/episodes/Romain-Diaz_30-The-Right-Why-6162021-e12u0hi

Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.

INTRO:

1:00 Shares his inspiration for impact, with origins in France, and experience in emerging countries. Talks about Venture Builders / Venture Factories / Venture Studios. Shares background in Fintech and Mobility. Shares his raison d’être for business for good.

SECTION1: The Mercenary

3:00 Talks about Rocket Internet in 2012, and their copycat model in developed and developing countries. Talks about experience with Africa’s first unicorn Jumia. Unpacks his entry into Venture Building via his experience in Morocco. Talks about the Venture Builder approach of 0–1 (PrePreSeed to PreSeed) investment at Satgana aligned with the SDGs.

12:00 Talks about the complexities around building businesses in developing markets versus developed. Also shares experience around scaling regionally. Discusses learning with partnerships, given story of FinchatBot.

SECTION2: Emerging Sustainability

19:00 Talks about his nano-fund and exit in South Africa. Led to him setting out on a journey around the world, asking why his energy was depleted. Let Romain to start asking about being focused on the right why. Led him toward to the role of purpose, aligned with compassion, care, and helping others. Took 8 years to realign the Venture Studio model aligned for climate change, pollution, biodiversity and other big topics. This led him to the SDGs, and aligning an aspiration to do good.

22:00 We talk about the experience of world travel, and his experience growing up in France. Talks about his 30+ country hungry experience — gasping the carbon footprint. His goal is to reduce more CO2 in his own life, than what he consumes. Getting to one’s deep self, is what opened him to life and what he wants to creates. We talk about the wholistic views on life we share. He talks about pledges and other focuses, but highlights the SDGs as a framework for the world we want to live in.

SECTION3: Good Company

29:00 Talks about the name of Satgana (Sanskrit for a Good Company), and how they want to be a nursery for other good companies to be born in the world. They are internationally focused — and hope to generate superior returns for investors. Talks about the old idea of the choice between purpose and profit, and more examples of companies that have changed this.

32:00 We talk about the engagement point with early Founders. He shares different types of Venture Builders [ Idea based / Founder sourcing who know problem and market pre-accelerator ]. They support in marketing, finance, design, sustainability, and development. We talk about the software mandate, SaaS, Marketplaces. Also talks about debt and revenue share opportunities to get their companies launched. Shares value of Radical Transperency and other core values, and details about this secret sauce.

SOURCES:

-Romain Diaz [LinkedIn]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romaindiaz/

-Satgana: www.satgana.com

-FinchatBot: https://finchatbot.com/

-Mazi Mobility: https://www.mazimobility.com/

-Jumia story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2020/04/23/jumia-africas-failed-unicorn-is-hemorrhaging-millions/?sh=555583964e4a

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Song Credit: The Croft — By Joakim Karud

[ No Copyright on Music and Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 ]