Focus on Responsible Entrepreneurs 🌱
🚀 Impact Entrepreneurs
Deep dive into our guests’ entrepreneurial stories. Learn about their vision, motivation, the way they measure impact, balance it with profitability but also about their relationships with investors and the financing options they used 🚀
What is not measured does not exist. The push for carbon accounting is driven by both customer demands and regulatory requirements. Making carbon accounting as widespread and straightforward as financial accounting is crucial, ensuring it's easy for stakeholders to understand and engage with.
Enjoy the read! 🌞
Presentation of our guests
Jean Moreau is a French entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of PHENIX, a company specializing in reducing food waste. He started his career in finance, working for BNP Paribas, before founding Phenix in 2014 to reduce food waste in France and Europe. Phenix uses a digital platform to connect retailers, restaurants, and supermarkets with local associations that can recover unsold products and distribute them to people in need. The company works with over 15,000 commercial partners, has saved more than 150 million meals since its creation, and has opened subsidiaries in Spain and Portugal.
He is very involved in promoting social and environmental impact in France. He is the co-president of Tech for Good and the Movement Impact France. He was named "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" by EY France in 2018. He is also a member of the National Council for Ecological Transition and the High Council for Climate in France.
Laetitia Carle is the Chief of Staff of Greenly. Greenly was created in 2018 in Paris, France, by two engineers who wanted to contribute to the fight against climate change by helping people reduce their carbon footprint. Greenly targets everyone, from individuals to companies, by offering a mobile application and website that allows users to track their carbon footprint in real-time and receive advice on how to reduce it. The application analyzes the user's bank transactions to identify purchases that have an impact on the environment and calculates their carbon footprint. Greenly aims to make CO2 emissions reduction accessible and easy for everyone. She joined Greenly in 2022 after working as a VC analyst at Lamivoie Capital Partners, an Investment Banking associate at Morgan Stanley, and co-founding a startup.
Polina Vasilenko is the founder and CEO of HelioRec, the first patented floating solar power plant based on recycled plastic. She is a qualified Senior Engineer with more than 15 years of experience in the energy sector. She holds a master’s degree in Chemical Technology and Bio-Technology (M.Eng.) and a master's in Renewable Energy Engineering, specializing in Ocean Energy (MSc). She is a strong believer in renewables and working towards developing solutions for the successful deployment of proven wave energy technologies.
What is your Motivation behind Impact Entrepreneurship?
The will to make an impact is universal, whatever your background. Your choices and your career don't dictate your values; if you feel the urge you can make the transition and work in impact entrepreneurship 🌳. Jean and Laetitia made this transition from Investment Banking; Polina built a career in the oil and gas industry before switching to renewables.
Polina has 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She emerged as an impact entrepreneur driven by a passion for ecology and a desire to create meaningful change. Specializing in renewable energy, particularly ocean energy, she pioneered the development of innovative technologies that made her vision come true: building power plants on water, blending sustainability with innovation ☀️ + 🌊
Despite the option to work in larger groups, Polina's intrinsic motivation and commitment to making a difference led her to venture into entrepreneurship, showcasing the power of individual dedication in driving transformative initiatives.
Jean transitioned from a successful career in investment banking, where he spent six years immersed in the intricate world of mergers and acquisitions. Despite a promising trajectory in banking, Jean felt a profound call for something more substantial. His journey into impact entrepreneurship was not a hasty decision but a thoughtful pursuit of alignment between his personal values and professional endeavors.
For Jean, it wasn't a matter of rage quitting; rather, it was about finding harmony between his personal aspirations and his work. While he acknowledges the heightened stress of impact entrepreneurship compared to investment banking, the profound sense of purpose makes the hard work more meaningful and drives his intense and strategic approach. For Jean, this journey signifies a lifelong pursuit of alignment and self-fulfillment in his professional life.
How to find alignment?
👌 How hard it is to stay aligned, between your personal life and your career? Do you feel a sense of pressure?
Jean: “I do feel a lot of pressure, as you become more visible and exposed to the press, you are more likely to be shot. So I want to embody the mission Phenix fights; therefore I am zero waste, I choose the train over the plane, etc.”
He mentions two type of commitments:
Internal
Being an example for his employees - representing the new generation being incredibly mindful about sustainability and climate issues.
External
When you become a visible person and grow your influence, it becomes easy to become a target.
🤔 To what extent is impact entrepreneurship different than traditional?
Jean mentions that internally it is very different - the way the company makes decisions and measures success - but that, unfortunately, externally it is very similar.
He refers to three big differences internally:
The “WHY” of the company - consequently the vision and culture
The success metrics - the way the company measures success and tracks progress
The governance - the way the company makes decisions. It tends to be more horizontal and shared (and less top-down).
However, he regrets that externally, an impact entrepreneur takes the same (and unique) route as traditional entrepreneurs when it comes to raising money, doing a roadshow, and persuading investors - their business must meet the same requirements and expectations.
Laetitia's journey into impact entrepreneurship was shaped by her prior experience in investment banking, a career path known for its challenges and intensity. However, Laetitia sought something more operationally engaging, a venture where she could proactively solve real-world problems. Her deep conviction led her to tackle climate change. For her, there is no problem more pressing, no challenge more urgent.
What problems are you solving and how do you measure it?
❓As Founder and CEO of HelioRec, Polina fights the climate crisis and answers three main issues:
As we know, the world needs to cut GES emissions (greenhouse gas) to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
However, the cost of electricity is very high - which makes the use of renewable energy limited!
On top of this, we desperately lack land space on top of which we could build renewable infrastructures. Installing solar panels on rooftops is not enough!
💡 HelioRec patented a unique technology that makes solar power plants floatable.
The cost of the energy HelioRec produces is 3x times cheaper than the one you can find on the grid while being totally invisible and operated in a clean and sustainable way.
❓ Co-founded by Jean, it has been 9 years since Phenix started fighting food waste by revaluing products close to their expiry date. Phenix focuses on rescuing products close to their expiry date, aiming to combat the substantial problem of food wastage.
Jean reflected on the initial challenges faced by his company, noting that they were slightly ahead of their time in terms of entering the market. Despite being early, they couldn't fully capitalize on the momentum and hype, contrasting with later initiatives like Too Good To Go and Karma.
Jean highlights that Phenix does not only track metrics related to the environment - recognizing that food waste is a significant contributor to environmental problems - but is also attached to the social pillar of the company’s mission. Highlighting the social pillar of Phenix's impact, Jean emphasized their commitment to providing products to people in need. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for the company include measuring meals saved and distributed to charities.
❓ Laetitia tells us about Greenly. Greenly directly impacts the Sustainable Development Goals based on climate action. When it comes to fighting climate change as a business, one of the first things you can do is measure - auditing your current situation and setting clear targets. While a couple of years ago, carbon accounting was only accessible to large corporations as the auditing service was extremely costly, Greenly made carbon accounting accessible to companies of all sizes. Their vision leverages technology to make the climate fight more accessible and meet the need for reduced emissions by 2030.
How do you balance impact and profitability?
👀 The Triple Bottom Line
The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) maintains that company should commit to focusing as much on social and environmental concerns as they do on profits.
In addressing the question of balancing impact and profitability, Laetitia emphasizes their intrinsic correlation. As the company grows, the impact also expands, and scalability directly contributes to increased profitability.
💡 MORE GROWTH = MORE IMPACT
💭 Laetitia notes a natural advantage for software, stating it is inherently more profitable. This eliminates the need for a trade-off between impact and profitability.
📈 Scaling as an impact driven company
At what point does impact become more or less important in the process of creating the start-up?
❓ Jean says being an impact entrepreneur can be strange because some people might say your business earns too much money, grows too quickly, or takes money from what they think are the wrong places.
It's a tricky challenge where trying to do good and make money at the same time is looked at with doubt. Even though you're making a positive difference, you still have to handle criticism about making money and growing fast, highlighting the complicated situations impact entrepreneurs often deal with.
How do you communicate your impact?
📘 How to report about impact?
Identifying challenges, Laetitia discussed the complexity of translating CO2 into monetary terms and the associated costs for society. She collaborates with BCG to navigate and mitigate these challenges. When it comes to communicating impact to their investors, Laetitia emphasized the significance of communication through an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) report tailored for investors.
❓ Sharing concrete figures, Laetitia revealed that her organization manages 36 million tons of CO2, contributing to 5% of French emissions. However, she acknowledged the inherent abstraction in dealing with such large numbers and the difficulty in conveying the significance of CO2.
Therefore, Laetitia emphasized a shift from Assets under Management (AuM) to measuring Tons of CO2 under management, providing a tangible metric for impact. She highlighted the regular inclusion of the amount of CO2 under management in every board meeting and that’s it’s too early in the business lifecycle to quantify the specific number of tons of CO2 avoided through their initiatives.
💰 A parallel with Finance Accounting
Laetitia highlighted that the push for carbon accounting is driven both by customer demands and regulatory requirements.
She stressed the importance of making carbon accounting as widespread and straightforward as financial accounting, building on the idea that what is not measured does not exist, making it easy for stakeholders to understand and engage with.
What role did regulations play for your businesses?
❓ Jean notes that, based on his experience, regulations can serve as a significant accelerator, although they haven't been transformative for Phenix. The company, founded in March 2014, witnessed the enforcement of Garot’s Law in February 2016, which mandated retailers to take measures for waste prevention.
More about the law
Garot’s Law establishes a hierarchy of actions in the battle against food waste: prioritize waste prevention, followed by donating or processing unsold food, then utilizing it in animal feed, and finally using food scraps for composting in agriculture or energy recovery (methanization).
During this period, there was a notable surge in momentum, and food waste became a prominent concern for many retailers. Despite Jean acknowledging that it did accelerate growth, he points out that revenue did not triple.
Recognizing that change takes time and not everyone complies with the law, Jean advises present and future entrepreneurs to collaborate with competitors on political efforts. He emphasizes that it's challenging and unfair for a single player to bear the burden of the fight against food waste alone.
❓ On the other hand, Laetitia explains how regulations impact carbon reporting differently. While carbon reporting is not mandatory yet, smaller companies have already been engaging in more sustainable practices - performing regular audits, designing a carbon strategy, etc.
She mentions that the positive effect induced by regulations on carbon reporting is not as big as the ecosystem effect. Since the standard has been set for larger companies, smaller ones are incentivized to comply with the same rules in order to win contracts with larger players or raise money from traditional investors.
❓Additionally, Polina highlighted the diverse impact of regulations on her solar innovation across different countries. Notably, the approval process in Cyprus poses a significant challenge, taking 2 to 3 years, while Belgium offers a more favorable timeline of 1 to 2 weeks.
This underscores the need to navigate regulatory landscapes on a country-to-country basis.
She emphasized the positive influence of the Green Deal in Europe on her business, noting its significant support in facilitating the approval and implementation of innovative and sustainable technologies.
Scaling as an impact driven company
💸 How did you finance your growth?
❓ Laetitia delved into the challenges of scaling impact-driven businesses and the pivotal role of private equity in addressing these challenges. She noted a significant increase in investor interest in impact-driven ventures, highlighting a notable shift in investor behavior towards prioritizing companies with a strong impact focus, particularly those adopting an "impact first" approach.
This perspective underscores the importance of being sustainable by design, and integrating sustainability into the core of business operations.
Acknowledging the intersection of climate and finance, Laetitia emphasized the growing recognition that climate risk = financial risk. This dual relationship between how climate affects the business and how the business impacts the climate links back to the concept of double materiality (the need for reporting both) as mentioned in our focus on Impact Investing last week.
❓ Laetitia shared her organization's positive experience in fundraising. She agreed that impact-focused companies are perceived as being on the safe side, contributing to investor confidence. The reassurance these companies provide extends beyond financial gains, emphasizing their positive impact on the world at large.
Laetitia's insights suggest a growing alignment between investor interests, the broader sustainability agenda, and the positive trajectory of impact-driven enterprises in the private equity landscape.
❓ In addition, Jean highlights that Phenix's trajectory mirrors that of conventional ventures, underscoring the common business dynamics that impact startups navigate. Over nine years, Phenix successfully raised €50M across four funding rounds, with contributions from investors such as Star Capital, Inco Ventures, ETF Partners, BPI, Arkea, and Bombardier. This funding facilitated national expansion and the initiation of B2C operations.
Jean also expressed that a challenge for impact entrepreneurs is the absence of clear success stories in this field. Unlike traditional startups with massive valuations, there aren't many standout impact startups to showcase. This lack of high-profile success stories can be problematic when trying to establish credibility with investors.
Looking forward, Jean expresses a hope for the emergence of diverse financing alternatives in the coming years, aiming to establish a more equitable and fair model for impact entrepreneurs.
🚀 Do you want to become a Sustainable Unicorn?
In 2023, the notion of a traditional unicorn may be questioned. When asked if he aspires for Phenix to achieve a symbolic €1 billion valuation, Jean expresses a different perspective. Rather than pursuing unicorn status, Jean envisions a narrative where Phenix positively impacts 1 billion lives with its solution.
He introduces the concept of a "sustainable unicorn" as an alternative label for impact-driven companies. While the specific criteria for this label are not yet defined, Jean is collaborating with BCG to explore potential criteria, likely centered around non-financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
That’s it for this week, thank you for taking the time to read! 💛
Next week
We’re almost at the end of our special series about Impact…
⚖️ Next Sunday will be our final deep-dive, specifically on Regulations and Outlook on what’s next for the Impact ecosystem.
Hope to see you there 😌.