Purpose Economy, Investing in Zebras and Zebras CoOp Stripes Currency Idea
Meetup #4 with Zebras Unite Berlin
60+ Online participants
We need to change the way we think about business, about community and about common good. The post-corona economy will need sustainable and resilient businesses creating positive impact in local communities. This is what Zebras are about.
But while bloated startups keep laying off hundreds of employees and investors keep closing their checkbooks to anything that doesn't seem like a "future-proof business", how do we make sure the necessary capital is being channeled to those who need and deserve it?
In the last years we've had enough evidence that businesses not following the aggressive startup path or having the "right" founder profile have a hard time accessing capital because of how the investment structures worked.
In this meetup we had the following amazing guests:
Astrid Scholz, the co-founder of ZebrasUnite shared the story and lessons learned from launching the Zebras Unite Capital fund in the US. The fund is aimed at unlocking Zebras potential by channeling the right type of capital in the right direction. She also talked about the next steps and the bigger picture for the Zebras Unite community — becoming a cooperative and maybe even creating a new community currency: stripes.
Achim Hensen, the co-founder of the Purpose Foundation and Camille Canon, Global communications talked about Purpose Ventures supporting the next generation of founders to build robust, profitable steward-owned businesses through purpose-aligned capital in Germany and the US.
Ramona Liberoff, global SDG investor and development leader, working between London and Berlin, shared her observations about the current attitude among the ESG investors coupled with some advice for founders.
As a bonus, Mara Zapeda, another co-founder joined our discussion, too so this meetup was also an occasion to get in touch with the women who started it all and bombard them with questions.