ALAQA
ALAQA explores the structural, strategic, and human dimensions of relationships in the world of capital — particularly for those seeking to finance solutions in a complex, interdependent world. Each episode unpacks a relationship that matters between investors and founders, different assets in a portfolio, public and private capital, next-gen inheritors and established wealth, and theory of change and deal execution. The podcast speaks with investors, ecosystem builders, capital allocators and change agents working at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and systems thinking.
Episodes
#28 Collaboration beyond convening: Inès Mertens on what it takes to bring the impact ecosystem to work together
Today, I’m joined by the Director of Community at Impact Europe - which calls itself The Investing for Impact Network. Impact Europe brings together Europe’s most committed impact actors: capital providers (foundations, corporates, impact funds, asset managers, financial institutions) and the ecosystem shapers who support them (networks, service providers, academics, research centres).Alongside th
#27 Designing systems interventions: Eva Gladek on a decade of building the Metabolic approach to place-based investing
Today, we welcome Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO of Metabolic, an impact entrepreneur and systems thinker working at the forefront of sustainability and the circular economy.Eva founded Metabolic in 2012 with a mission to help transition the global economy towards a fundamentally sustainable and circular state. Through her work with governments, businesses, and NGOs around the world, she has helped t
#26 Impact secondaries & market building: Nicolas Muller on making impact more investable for LPs
Today, I’m joined by Nicolas Muller, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Partnerships at Blue Earth Capital, a dedicated impact asset manager investing globally across social and environmental impact. With a background spanning traditional private equity, emerging markets, and impact investing, Nicolas works at a particularly interesting point in the impact ecosystem: building the market
#25 Capital as a bridge: Astrid Leyssens on investors letting go of control
Today, I’m joined by Astrid Leyssens, founder of We Are Impact Collective, where she mentors, advises, and supports wealth holders, investors, and pioneers on their impact journeys.At We Are Impact Collective, Astrid works at the intersection of impact investing, systemic change, and collaborative innovation, helping individuals, family offices, and organizations turn ambition into actionable stra
#24 Activating investor communities: Suzanne Rosman on how peers support the journey to impact-aligned decisions
Today, we are joined by Suzanne Rosman, a business development professional currently working at PYM, bringing international experience across startups and corporates.Suzanne’s work spans business development and organisational operations within the impact investing space, shaped by experience working with funds and navigating different investment and operating environments.Alongside her professio
#23 Relationality and capital: James Burrows & Philipp Essl on Building Resilient Systems
Today, I'm joined by James Burrows and Philipp Essl, managing directors at Better Society Capital. At BSC, James currently looks after the social lending team which includes work on blended finance, ethical banks, and social outcomes partnerships. He explores how capital can better connect with communities. He's also building out the practice looking at investing for more transformative systems c
#22 Aiming for depth, not for size: André Stürmer & Ebru Kaya on their practices of regeneration
Today, I’m joined by Ebru Kaya and André Stürmer, co-founders and Stewards of Atreyu and RIA. Previously, Ebru was the CEO of The Hatchery, an impact fund focussed on food. Ebru had a long career in Finance Marketing and Strategy at Unilever in Europe & Africa and at RCL Foods in South Africa. Amongst others, Ebru led the Sustainability agenda in Central Africa for Unilever and in South Africa
#21 Inassurabilité & adaptation : le collectif comme ferment et condition des nouveaux modèles avec Chloé Coursaget (FR) 🇫🇷
Today's episode is a special one. We’re switching things up with a conversation conducted entirely in French.Consider it a linguistic detour from our regular programming.Alors… on y va, et bonne écoute en français. Aujourd'hui, je reçois Chloé Coursaget, dirigeante de Circomplex, c'est un cabinet de conseil qui accompagne les organisations face aux grandes mutations environnementales, économiques
#20 Growing the pie: Vincent Gradt on expanding "nature finance" markets
Today, I’m joined by Vincent Gradt, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Impact Earth. Vincent is an investor and operator with more than 20 years of experience across impact investing, natural capital, and frontier markets. Vincent previously led Mirova Natural Capital and was instrumental in launching AXA’s impact investing strategy in 2013, helping shape some of the field’s earliest institutional
#19 Acknowledging the polycollapse: Alice Kalro on building bridges, systemic leadership and risk mitigation
Today, I’m joined by Alice Kalro, a systems thinker, strategist, and founder of arkH3, prolific thought leader and originator of multiple frameworks and methodologies, including Sustainability-as-the-World-Needs.She is the lead author of Leading through the Polycollapse: A Guide to Systemic Foresight for VUCA Native Strategy, published in April 2025.With arkH3 - her advisory and training firm, she
#18 Taking impact to scale: Nadia Nikolova on making Impact an easier yes for institutional investors
Today, I’m joined by Nadia Nikolova, CEO of responsAbility Investments, M&G’s emerging markets specialist impact asset manager mobilising institutional capital at scale.Nadia is an investment management expert with deep experience in development finance and impact investing, with a strong track record in infrastructure debt and structured finance. As of September 2025, she stepped into the CEO
#17 Patience, bold founders and incentives: Michelle de Rijk on revisiting the investment formula for change
Today, I’m joined by Michelle de Rijk, an impact investor with over 15 years of experience across venture capital and impact investing, currently at Fair Capital Impact Fund.Michelle spent a decade at DOEN Ventures before joining Fair Capital Impact Fund, where she has been involved in backing and supporting companies such as Fairphone, Seepje, and Crowdbuilding.A formative moment in her journey c
#16 Financial design in the service of climate resilience: Sandrine Henton on unlocking local and global capital for African SMEs
Today I'm joined by Sandrine Henton, founder and managing director of EG Capital, a private credit investment platform focused on climate adaptation across Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of climate finance, resilience, and capital allocation, helping shape new approaches to investing in adaptation across emerging markets. So why is Sandrine with us today? To be serious about planet
#15 Rethinking the Fundraise: Lucy Mortimer on Trust, Collaboration and Circular Economy Investing
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.Today I'm joined by
#14 From lived experiences to red carpets: Danielle Turkov on building impact and changing laws through films
Today we sit down with Danielle Turkov, Founder and Executive Director of Think-Film Impact Production, a company she built from scratch to bridge the worlds of film, policy, and social change. Danielle has worked with Oscar- and Emmy-nominated projects like The Cave, iHuman, and BAFTA-nominated Eminent Monsters, using storytelling as a catalyst for real-world impact. Recently, “Mr Nobody Against
#13 Finance is never neutral: Marcel Zuidam on changing capital from within
Today, we are happy to welcome Marcel Zuidam, CEO of Triodos Bank, one of Europe’s leading banks in sustainable finance. Before joining Triodos, Marcel held senior leadership roles across mainstream finance, including CEO positions at NN Bank and Delta Lloyd Bank, giving him a rare perspective on both conventional and regenerative models of capital. In this conversation, we explore what it really
ALAQAxChange NOW - Teaser Season 2
Welcome to Alaqa.Alaqa means relationship.And in finance, relationships are often the invisible layer — shaping decisions, shaping trust, shaping what ultimately gets funded… and what doesn’t.This new season is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW.It brings together conversations with fund managers from Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of imp
#12 Patient capital formula: Benjamin Le Pendeven on persistence as the missing ingredient of impact
Today, we are happy to welcome Benjamin Le Pendeven, associate professor of entrepreneurial and responsible finance at Audencia Business School, where he leads the “Finance for Innovation” research chair focused on impact investing, innovation financing, and social impact bonds. He collaborates with public institutions, private investors, and NGOs and previously worked as an entrepreneur and impac
#11 Patience as Powerful Lever: Benjamine Friderich on Long-Term Capital and Transformative Growth (FR episode) 🇫🇷
Today's episode is a special one. We’re switching things up with a conversation conducted entirely in French.Consider it a linguistic detour from our regular programming.Alors… on y va, et bonne écoute en français.Aujourd’hui, nous sommes heureux d’accueillir Benjamine Friderich, Head of Investments chez Colam Impact, une filiale de Colam Entreprendre.Après avoir effectué un tour du monde à l’
#10 Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Constanza Robles on Finding Creative Adjustments for AgriFood Systems Transformation
Today we are happy to welcome Constanza Robles Fumarola.Constanza is a systems change investor and designer focused on transforming food systems across Africa. She is the Founding Partner of Inanna, an investor and venture builder applying systems thinking to regenerative agriculture and food. With a background in social impact and futures design, she has worked with organisations such as the UN F
#09 Using public money to support change: Laure Blanchard-Brunac on when blended finance actually works
Today we are happy to welcome Laure Blanchard-Brunac.Laure is an expert in development finance and blended finance, with over 20 years of experience across leading European financial institutions and the European Commission. She has a proven expertise in EU financial instruments, budgetary guarantees and investment-related policies and regulations. Laure is currently a member of the InvestEU Inves
#08 Catalyzing possible futures during a messy present: Greg De Temmerman’s hybrid lens on Climate Action
Today we are happy to welcome Greg De Temmerman.Greg has about 20 years of experience spanning fusion and energy research, philanthropic funding, and climate solutions. Working at the intersection between science, innovation and climate action, he is passionate about building systems that enable bold and transformative initiatives to thrive. Until October 2025 he was deputy CEO and Chief Science O
#07 Capital access and equitable wealth building: Eric Collins leveraging Urgency and Joy
Today, I’m joined by Eric Collins, Co-Founder and General Partner of Impact X Capital Partners and a serial entrepreneur, investor, technology executive, host of award-winning Channel 4 business show,The Money Maker, which is based on the highly successful US show The Profit on CNBC, and author of the award winning book We Don’t Need Permission - How Black Business Can Change the World.In 2018 he
#06 A Good Pension in a Livable World: Laure Wessemius-Chibrac on Rethinking Finance for the Future
Today, I’m joined by Laure Wessemius-Chibrac, a seasoned investment professional with nearly three decades of experience in the financial sector, specialising in sustainability, impact investing and the mobilisation of institutional capital. Based in the Netherlands, she has built a solid exposure to emerging markets. She currently serves as the Founding Managing Director / CEO of Netherlands Advi
#05 Investing with trust: James Burrows on how experiments, time and proximity unlock new avenues for impact
Today, I’m joined by James Burrows. James currently looks after the social lending team at Better Society Capital (BSC), which includes work on Blended Finance, Ethical Banks, and Social Outcomes Partnerships. These are all ways of connecting capital to communities that need it most. He is also actively involved in shaping and building out the practice looking at investing for more transformative
#04 Questioning mental models for a Just Climate Transition: Tess Dury on power dynamics in VC and the nature of capital
Today I'm joined by Tess Dury, Director of Impact and ESG at Extantia, a deep tech climate fund, known for not shying away from hardware tech, as well as first of a kind industrial investments. At Extentia Tess works with investors in climate startups to support them in the difficult journey of both designing and delivering sustainable growth that is part of the solution, not the problem. Toda
#03 Networks, Trust, and System Change: Krisztina Tora on Catalyzing Inclusive Economies
Today, I’m joined by Krisztina Tora, a global leader in impact investing and impact markets, known for shifting capital flows toward real impact in over 70 countries.Krisztina has advised financial institutions, governments, and civil society on building inclusive impact economies, while also creating partnerships that help diverse stakeholders co-design systemic solutions. Her work is driven by a
#02 From Banking to Biodiversity: Laura Ortiz on Redefining Capital for the Climate Transition
Welcome to Alaqa — a podcast about the relationships shaping systems, capital, and the climate transition.Today, I’m joined by Laura Ortiz Montemayor, Founder of SVX México and Managing Partner at Regenera Ventures Fund, where she works to finance regenerative transitions in Mexico and Colombia.Through SVX and Regenera, Laura has educated thousands of investors and entrepreneurs in Latin America,
#01 Dancing with Systems: Roberta Benedetti on Investing for Deep Transitions
Today, I’m joined by Roberta Benedetti del Rio, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Radia Capital, a specialised firm scaling industrial transformation and decarbonisation solutions in Europe.At Radia Capital, Roberta focuses on bridging the funding gap for scale-ups in hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, and heavy transport — industries that are both urgent and often overlooked. Her work, fr
ALAQA Podcast - Teaser Season 1
In Arabic, ALAQA means relationship — a word that invites us to look deeper at what connects (and sometimes disconnects) the parts of a system.In the age of climate urgency, economic uncertainty, and social fragmentation, relationships — between people, portfolios, institutions, sectors, and generations — are no longer soft infrastructure. They are the levers of change. And yet, they’re often over
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