Fi Gathering Madrid: Invest for impact across the continuum of capital

On November 22nd, 2022, the first edition of “Fi Gathering Madrid: Invest for impact across the continuum of capital was held at IE University. The event aimed at inspiring asset owners (family offices, families in businesses, and foundations) toward impact investing and the current opportunities in this sector.

The event was organized by Social Nest Foundation, a global platform promoting, guiding, and supporting entrepreneurs and impact investors, the Impact Bridge-IE Chair in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing, and the IE Center for Families in Business.

The Fi Gathering Madrid featured a prestigious panel of speakers, including Dr. Cristina Cruz, academic director of the IE Center for Families in Business. Dr. Cristina Cruz moderated the roundtable discussion titled: “Walk the talk: How families manage the journey towards impact,” in which Iker Marcalde (Founder and Executive Chairman of Zubi Group), Roberta Bosurgi (CEO of EVPA), Omar Ynzenga (President at Borealis), and Claudia Coppenole (Fellow in Residence at The ImPact) discussed the role of families in business in impact investment.

In their discussion, Cristina highlighted the idea that families in business are natural philanthropists and that their unique goals (desire to preserve the family legacy, long-term orientation, strong ties with the community, etc.) provide them several competitive advantages when entering into impact investment. Despite their competitive advantages, the speakers discussed the challenges (for instance, the trade-off between growth and risk) that families in business might face in their journey toward impact investing.