Entrepreneurship with a positive impact or when sustainability is the way

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Today, social and environmental concerns have become the  leitmotif  of more and more entrepreneurs who, aware and committed  as never before, fight not only for a purely economic return, but also for undertaking with a positive impact on their environment.

But how can we combine profitability and sustainability? How to solve social and environmental challenges through a business model ? What talent is required to achieve success from this perspective?

More and more entrepreneurs see sustainability as a path and not as a destination

In order to answer this and many other questions, Ignacio Pi , Global Head of Mediapost, recently spoke at the facilities of the Impact Hub Alameda in Madrid, with Iker Marcaide , Founder of Zubi Labs, an entity that since its foundation in 2014 seeks create and co-finance start-up companies by linking talent whose personal purpose  is closely aligned with the challenges that these companies are trying to solve. And all this from the triple social, economic and environmental perspective .

A purpose that goes beyond

From this point of view, Marcaide believes, "a financial market return is achieved, but also the desired impact  by those entrepreneurs who see sustainability as a path and not as a destination ."

Along the same lines, and asked by Pi about the profile of entrepreneurs who come to Zubi Labs, Marcaide stresses that "within the venture there is a very wide range of profiles. However, in our case, the entrepreneurs who approach us are because they see the opportunity to achieve their purpose , of what motivates them. ” Likewise, it stresses that "it is a purpose that goes beyond the economic dimension".

The ROI of entrepreneurship with positive impact

Delving into the return of undertaking projects with a positive impact and, above all, in the way of measuring that return, the director of Zubi Labs highlights that “we for each company develop from the theory of change , that is, how we are doing can solve the challenge, even a catalog of different indicators ”.

Along the same lines, he stresses that "

Obviously, the dimension of capital mobilization  towards solving these types of challenges must also be taken into account . This implies that we have to achieve market returns for each phase and make it truly scalablebecause our model is for co-investors to join our companies as they grow. "

Asked by Pi about the possible tension that can be generated due to the lack of alignment between social performance and financial performance , Marcaide acknowledges that "sustainable models better defend margins in the long term and are more resilient to economic cycles."

Sustainable models better defend margins in the long term and are more resilient to economic cycles

In any case, "we, within the reporting we do to our co-investors, include financial but also non-financial metrics  ," he says.

In social consciousness ... is there scalability?

How prepared is the society of this country to scale this model that is having so much success? To this question from Ignacio Pi, the manager of Zubi Labs answered stating that " we are talking about impact investing , social entrepreneurship, the triple bottom line ... And this type of definitions that we use, the truth is that globally it moves 240 B $. It is true that the Nordic countries  are more advanced but I am optimistic by definition. "

Dimensions such as climate change or the circular economy will affect many companies, as digitization affected at the time

Furthermore, Marcaide says, “I think it has been shown that economic, environmental and social returns can be achieved in unison, and that, most important of all, there is sufficient interest from the different players . And I don't think this is just something from startups. This affects the entire fabric and all players: companies, society, banks… ”.

The reality of undertaking with a positive impact

In the final stretch of the dialogue, Marcaide wanted to expose some of the main projects that Zubi Labs have promoted, focusing on areas such as climate change, social inclusion,  the circular economy or the development of talent with purpose. Thus, I speak of the ' Imagine Montessori School' , a school that seeks to care for talent for a better world by endowing children with a purpose, a commitment to society and the planet; and the 'Barrio La Pinada', an eco-neighborhood with very ambitious objectives in terms of the environmental and social dimension, and created on the basis of neighborhood co-creation.

One of the great projects of Zubi Labs is the Barrio La Pinada, an eco-neighborhood with very ambitious goals in terms of the environmental and social dimension.

Visit the Mediapost 'Relational Marketing Management Dialogues site now , and learn about the opinions and points of view of many other top executives about 21st century leadership