As part of the MCI Alumni & Friends Distinguished Guest Lecture series, the Entrepreneurial School® had the honor of welcoming Charly Kleissner, Chairman of the Board of ImpactAssets and Co-Founder of Toniic & KL Felicitas Foundation, California & Innsbruck.
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The global ecosystem is under great pressure. It is becoming increasingly clear that the problems of our time, such as social injustice, inequality, poverty or climate change, cannot be solved by the current financial and economic system. An effective alternative is to be achieved through by "impact investing", i.e. a form of economic activity that focuses not on the profit motive, but on its positive social and ecological impact.
Born in Schwaz, Charly Kleissner is one such “impact investor”: In partnership with his wife Lisa, he founded the global network “Toniic” 10 years ago, in which 400 impact investors on all continents are now participating. The network invests in projects that break new ground and for which no institutional capital is usually made available. A concrete example of this are social impact bonds, a new financial product that explicitly combines monetary returns with social impact. Charly Kleissner: "I believe that the financial and economic system must change fundamentally in order to ensure the long-term survival of mankind and to enable all people on our planet to live a good and meaningful life." Holistic access is also important in ensuring that the projects not only meet certain criteria such as sustainability or job security, but also develop a positive impact on the entire system. Kleissner speaks of "deep impact" here, which he and his investors verify for all investments made.
