Author: marten
Back to homepage
marten
PwC: South Africa Has an Unprecedented Opportunity to Capitalise on the Rapidly Developing Global Hydrogen Economy
Hydrogen can be a game changer for the South African economy. Opportunities exist for South Africa to partake in the global hydrogen economy but will depend largely on investments in renewable energy generation, as well as the development of a
Read More
UNCDF: Women as Builders of Inclusive Digital Economies
The dramatic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, at times, seemingly defies belief. Yet, every time there is an analysis of the pandemic’s damage — human, societal, economic — a recurring narrative emerges, one that is quite believable. That COVID-19 has
Read More
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board: Financial Impacts of Sustainability – Connecting Businesses and Investors
Sustainability issues are global business issues. For example, data security—a social issue—is important to companies in the software industry. Water management—an environmental issue—is essential to a beverage producer. Managing conflicts of interest—a governance issue—is critical for an investment bank. Effectively
Read More
Geoffrey Okamoto, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF: Knightmare Uncertainty
The American economist Frank Knight theorised about the difference between risk and uncertainty in his classic book Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Risk is “a quantity susceptible of measurement.” A precise outcome may not be known, but the probability of a
Read More
OECD: Advancing the Global Agenda on Blended Finance and Sustainable Development Impact
In its efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[1] and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda[2], the international development community has been working to promote the mobilisation of financial resources beyond official development assistance, across both the public and
Read More
Building the Bridge Between Non-financial and Mandatory Reporting
BP CEO Bernard Looney’s courageous announcement that BP will transition to becoming a green energy pioneer shows the need for a new supporting logic for a standard measurement system. If BP is prepared to publicly commit to do the right
Read More
UniCredit’s Roberta Marracino: Banking with a Social Impact
Determined to help shape the post-pandemic ‘new normal’, UniCredit is stepping on the accelerator to redouble its efforts at sparking meaningful change in the lives of accountholders and in the wider society. UniCredit’s Social Impact Banking programme, first launched in
Read More
Appreciation of ESG Values Has Increased During Pandemic, says Asset Manager of Goldman Sachs Sheila Patel
As a keen angler, Sheila Patel knows that the secret to hooking a big trout is to deliver the fly in a precise and careful manner. So when Covid-19 lobbed a rock into the financial world’s waters, one might have
Read More
Matein Khalid: A Random Walk Down Silicon Valley’s Pre-IPO Deal Flow
2020 was a spectacular year for investing in late stage technology unicorns and I am proud to have led significant investor syndicates from the Gulf for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the e-learning marketplace Udemy and Swedish fintech Klarna Bank. The secondary
Read More
Thirdway Africa: ‘Thinking Anew’ about Alternatives and Innovations for Investment in Africa
In 2014, ThirdWay Africa set out to fundamentally change the investment landscape in Africa. The investment and advisory firm driving sustainable development was founded by Alejandro Tawil (Chairman) and Gonçalo Neves-Correia (CEO). They were seeking a new formula to better
Read More