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What experience does Beka Finance hold in terms of social impact?
Beka Finance has been involved in Social Impact since its origins, in different ways according to the years. Since the beginning, in which the management team launched three separate NGO’s to recently where our social impact has developed along the lines of social and environmental impact investing. Beka Finance has also been a part of some of the main organisms related to social impact, such as UNPRI (the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing, the EVPA (European Venture Philanthropy Association) of which Beka has been an active member and a main sponsor for the Association’s global annual event in Madrid. And also, Spainsif.
How do you measure the social and environmental impact of your investments?
Social impact is engrained within our DNA to a point where all of our investments (not just impact investments) are measured with not only financial metrics but also environmental metrics.
At Beka Finance we firmly believe that social impact and financial results can really come hand in hand and, in fact, can potentiate each other.
We believe that measuring social and environmental impact is absolutely essential for our vision to materialize. This is an art that is not yet standardized (although we are getting closer). We have developed our own methodology for the last eight years, but at the same time try to adhere to these international standards to a certain degree to ensure transparency and comparability.
One of the main things that must be taken into account within impact measurement is the definition of metrics together with the entrepreneurs when determining the investment opportunity. These metrics can be more or less deep. In the shallowend, we can measure the output of the company which is mainly the products and services that the company offers. Or we can measure which not only accounts for beneficiaries, but long-term effects on all involved stakeholders, discounting negative externalities amongst other effects. It is also extremely important that we have an objective way of following up with the progress of these metrics as the company evolves, which is something we work closely on with the companies’ management. Finally, reporting in a very transparent and precise way is important for our investors and other stakeholders that are counting on us to deploy their capital in the most efficient way possible.
Does Beka Finance currently have any active social impact funds?
We currently channel our social impact investments through Cuanimen, which is a 60M euros fund that invests in social impact and FinTech. In addition, following the economic damage created by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are developing a new project which is still under development but if materialized, could prove another pioneering project within Spain and Continental Europe. Finally,sometimes at Beka Finance we execute direct investments that can also be social in scope. Regardless of the vehicle that is used, we are always trying to prove the same point: That social impact is correlated with financial success in the mid and long terms. By investing in social impact, investors are able to achieve not only the financial returns that they deserve but also the personal satisfaction of contributing with their capital to make the world a better place.
What is it like to work at Beka Finance?
I’ve been working in Beka Finance for almost seven years after having worked for some of the most prestigious and selective companies in the world. I have never found a culture like the one we hold at Beka Finance. This is truly a family; it is so close-knit that it truly escapes what I have been able to experience in the corporate world in the past. The feeling of being inside a small family where everyone takes care of each other, both in a personal and professional level is heart-warming. A place where meritocracy and professional ambition are considered together with work-life balance is also unique in my experience. The family is growing very fast right now, which brings more opportunities in terms of further professional development, while maintaining some of the main tenets of the Beka Finance culture: entrepreneurial spirit, a family-oriented environment and meritocracy.
