46: Disrupting The Status Quo - Daniela Barone Soares of Snowball Impact Management

The new Series
Today’s episode of IMPACT LEADERS is the second on our new series: “The Sustainable Investment Dilemma” - Can The Financial Sector Be A Force For Good?”

Looking into how industries can help address the Climate & Social Crisis, in particular the financial industry ... taking on the opportunity to address the way it has financed the activities that have taken us to our current situation.

 

About this Episode 

For our second episode we have the inspiring Daniela Barone Soares of Snowball IM - Impact Management. Read more about Daniel, Snowball IM, the highlights and time stamps below.

 
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About Daniela Barone Soares 
Daniela is CEO of Snowball Impact Management. Daniela is excited about systemic solutions for a healthy, prosperous and peaceful future in this planet. She has over 15 years’ experience as a CEO and Board member at the intersection of the commercial and impact worlds, starting her career in private equity and venture capital investing and then spending nine years at the helm of Impetus. She serves as Non-executive Director on the business responsibility committee of IHG Plc. She is a Trustee of the Institute for the Future of Work and a Senior Advisor for the Forward Institute.

She was selected by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards as one of the top 100 women in engineering (2019) for her work as NED at Halma Plc, by Brazil’s Istoé Dinheiro magazine as one of "20 People who are Changing Brazil and the World for the Better" (2017) and by the Independent on Sunday as one of 100 people who make Britain a better place (“Happy List” 2008). She holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSc in Economics from Unicamp.

About Snowball IM
Snowball Impact Management is a diversified, multi-asset investment vehicle that aims to create positive outcomes for people and planet whilst generating sound financial returns. Snowball invests in a range of public and private funds that support a variety of social and environmental outcomes across the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. They are currently have deployed our funds invested in public and private market investments and we target a risk-adjusted annual return of 5-6% above inflation, net of all fees, over the long term. They have a four year track record investing with this strategy.

Highlights:

• “We still look and act as if people and nature are inputs into the financial process and inputs for financial gains instead of thinking financial markets are tools to support people and planet.”
• Impact investing: is intentional, additional and measurable and incorporates risk based approach of ESG and takes it one step further.
• The ABC approach = A: Avoiding harm + B: Benefiting stakeholders + C: Contributing to solutions
• “I do think that especially the larger companies could do faster than what they are doing. And I think, unfortunately, a lot of them will only do it under pressure from investors and from the way that we invest. And that's why it's important, I think, is a very important role of the financial industry to make sure that we also don't get accommodated with the status quo , and start to really put some incentives and pressure for companies to transition faster, especially the ones that have more resources to do so.”
• Snowball’s investment strategy is to have a diversified portfolio: renewable energy, sustainable forestry, social housing, charity bonds, circular economy, tech for good. 
• They invest in all SDGs - with the final SDG in aquaculture of SDG14 - Life Below Water. 
• First time investors are interested to learn from every asset classes and impact from every SDGs.
• Core and satellite strategy:

1. What is happening on the ground
2. How fund managers works with investments to improve impact
3. How we work with other fund managers and investors to improve our approach and share leaning

• Standards and regulations are next steps to scale impact. We need to make it easy for investors to compare and contrast investments and make it harder for impact washing.
• Pricing of negative externalities is a fundamental step in scaling and mainstreaming impact.
• Rockefeller Foundation gave a grant so that Snowball can share their experience to the impact community of lessons learned about starting and growing an impact fund - there will be a webinar - Watch this space.
• Investment examples: Circularity Capital is an investment fund of Snowball, they invest in circular economy businesses. Shark Solutions is an investment of Circular Capital, they recycle and reuse hard to extract PVB from laminated glasses.
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Going after your network and asking for advise.

TimeStamp:

[0:04:30] Intro: Who is Daniela Barone Soares?

[0:06:30] What is sustainable and impact investing?

[0:09:51] Sustainable Investment Dilemma 

[0:13:43] Governance of Snowball

[0:15:45] Investment strategy and vision for an IPO

[0:19:14] Breaking down the invisible wall

[0:22:10] Chasing high returns comes with higher risks, fund of funds strategy

[0:25:40] How Snowball got started

[0:30:25] Collaboration with entire ecosystem

[0:36:30] Snowball’s investment strategy

[0:40:50] Do impact investors like a broad range of assets?

[0:46:00] Liquidity of the fund and IPO

[0:47:33] How to manage operationally?

[0:51:10] Measuring impact: Snowball methodology 

[0:59:10] Grant from Rockefeller Foundation and webinar

[1:02:16] Circularity Capital and Shark Solutions

[1:06:30] The future and how to scale impact

[1:11:10] Pricing negative externalities, increasing price of debt for unsustainable companies

[1:13:20] Other companies democratising Impact: Big Exchange, Tickr and Clim8

[1:16:57] How did you end up doing this? 

[1:24:27] Being lucky and taking the opportunities

[1:34:00] How to join a Board level C-suite of a large public company

[1:38:40] What makes an impact leader?

Useful links:

Snowball Impact Management at https://www.snowball.im/

Daniela Barone Soares on Linkedin

Alexander Hoare of C Hoare and Co Bank 

James Perry on Linkedin, COOK, B Lab UK

Colin Baines of Linkedin, Friends Provident Foundation

Golden Bottle Trust https://www.hoaresbank.co.uk/golden-bottle-trust

Sophie Marple of on Linkedin, Gower St

Taylor Family Foundation

Circularity Capital

Shark Solutions

Snowball IM’s Impact Reports - Managing for Impact 

Impact Management Project 

IFC Impact principles 

TCFD - Taskforce For Climate-Related Disclosure 

SASB - Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

Harvard’s impact weighted accounts

Nigel Kershaw’s Impact Leaders Podcast episode

Big Exchange

Tickr

Clim8invest

Save The Children

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