Our first Johnnie Walker Blue Label Philanthropy Talk of 2011 brought together two leaders of organisations that are at the intersection of business and society. Both have the potential to contribute to the Big Society in hugely innovative and significant ways.
Speaking first was Daniela Barone Soares, who is the Chief Executive of Impetus Trust. Impetus is the UK leader in “venture philanthropy,” which applies venture capital practices to the social sector with amazing results. Daniela spoke about how Venture Philanthropy can help build the Big Society.
Following Daniela was Stephen Dawson, who is focusing on an even bigger society – this time in Sub-Saharan Africa. Stephen is Chairman of Jacana Venture Partnership, which he started two years ago. He and his partners believe that small and medium-sized businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa have the potential to create many more jobs, which obviously not only benefits the economy, but also benefits the community. The only thing preventing this from happening is a lack of growth capital. Bank loans are difficult to secure, are short-term and expensive, and the private equity industry in Sub-Saharan Africa is extremely under-developed. Stephen and his partners decided that the best way for them to have the maximum impact on poverty in Africa was by building the capacity of growth capital investment managers.
