Fundo Vale’s team took part in this year’s Latimpacto Conference, titled “Impact Minds: Standing Together,” held in Rio de Janeiro between August 27 and 30, as well as networking side meetings, organized by organizations of importance to Fundo Vale’s agenda. Márcia Soares, Fundo Vale’s partnerships leader, also spoke at a panel discussion called “The Bioeconomy Frontier and Opportunities in the Pan-Amazon Region,” which shared experiences that have been working in the region.
The event brought together almost 700 representatives of philanthropic organizations, business promotion and investment funds, public bodies, companies and development banks, both Brazilian and international, and hosted meetings with impact ecosystem leaders. The aim was to promote learning and shift paradigms in strategic investments, as well as promoting innovative proposals and alliances to attract more capital to Latin America and the Caribbean. Fundo Vale was one of the event’s sponsors.
The conference also featured six visits to learn about social and environmental projects, sharing spaces and workshops to promote connections and knowledge for the more than 350 participants from 26 countries, representing more than 190 organizations.
A total of 120 international speakers discussed the following topics: education, corporate impacts and ESG issues, racial, gender and disability inclusion, non-financial support, impact measurement, innovative finance, migration, climate change (with a particular focus on the Amazon), network collaboration, continuous capital, venture philanthropy and impact investing.
There were five impact panels, 20 collective sharing sessions, 16 lectures, nine workshops, eight learning days, the launch of a family study, five catalytic deal share pitches and ten pitches for investors, as well as a women’s empowerment award offered by the Bayer Foundation.
“It was an incredible event that mobilized the impact ecosystem. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen so many organizations coming together around one theme,” says Soares. “The fact that it took place in Brazil made a big impression on our ecosystem, but it went much further, bringing representatives from all over Latin America and organizations from other continents that are active on the venture philanthropy agenda.”
Fundo Vale is a founding member of Latimpacto, a sister network of venture philanthropy associations from Europe, Asia and Africa. As well as financing part of the network’s actions in Brazil, it has been working to influence the forest and climate agenda. For this reason, a “Pan-Amazon front” was created within the network, which has already carried out a bioeconomy study, immersions, and meetings to share knowledge and experiences in the Amazon as a whole. Since last year, Latimpacto has been negotiating the creation of a Green Fund with the Inter-American Development Bank, focusing on the bioeconomy.
“The event helped strengthen bonds of trust, exchange experiences between the organizations, network, and learn about other examples and projects carried out in other regions of Latin America,” Soares adds.