Big Fishes from South meet Big fish from North

Having being born in Latin America, and lived abroad for the past 7 years, I was more than excited to come back and present with Will Poole, co-founder of Capria, to 40+ family offices and HNIs worth over US$50 billion, over the course of 4 days. But even more, I was excited to be presenting such a great opportunity to people I have known for years, and that is to be able to diversify their portfolio through investing in market rate returns funds that also have a tremendous impact in improving people’s lives in emerging countries like theirs.

Getting Connected & Starting Learning

My first engagement with this group of busy and highly-successful leaders was via a simple email stating what Capria does and asking to meet. Some of them I knew from before, others I did not. Long story-short, the reception was more than great and our days were non-stop full of meetings from breakfast to dinner. Family offices were very interested in our global network and in investing both regionally and globally. They listened carefully and asked the right questions. Conversations went so well that we will be back in LatAm on January, mainly for follow up meetings. This is not only a great momentum, it is a virtuous circle rolling.

Successful open minded businessmen and entrepreneurs from Chile told us their ideas about risk capital in the region, the booming entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the lack of adequate investment opportunities to meet their needs for growth and diversification. We were happy to realize that most (if not all the them) understood and thought our model makes perfect sense to boost impact fund managers, entrepreneurs and finally for them as investors to diversify and have strong financial returns while making a difference, a meaningful investment.

Most of the busy people we met with are involved in social (NGO) endeavors on a personal level. They valued and understood the benefits, including higher long term impact, of our financial-first investing approach. They valued the legacy they can create, and they appreciate that new generations have a clear social-environmental awareness DNA.

Different Styles for Different Folks

We understand that people have different styles, personalities, and privacy issues which we respect and embrace. Taking that into consideration, it was great that we were able to meet with potential investors on different formats and group sizes. From power point presentations to 20+ people, through small groups of 3 interrelated people, to many 1:1 meetings at private offices and houses. An important thing was that we were well prepared to approach all these different styles, met a lot of people but we were also able to engage in deep conversations with most of them. While having these discussions, we realized that there are some key leaders in the “industry”. We believe that having met with those leaders will contribute to spread the word about Impact Investing in general, about Capria network, and to also fulfil investors’ needs.

Ecosystem Matters Also

Having met with diverse actors from the ecosystem was also relevant. Listening to entrepreneurs, their amazing ventures, innovative ideas, and persevering spirit was fascinating. It was also gratifying to realize how many of them already knew about Capria. Understanding and confirming all the great value Capria can add to well experienced local fund managers was also encouraging.

Overall, the network is horizontally and vertically integrated. Meeting with potential investors, but also with relevant local impact fund managers and entrepreneurs gave us a holistic view of the ecosystem and how to better boost it together. We confirmed that Capria model interconnects the interest of these diverse group of actors in the right way, they understand the model and they want to be part of it.

North Meets South

During our trip, we realized that we complement each other, and that we have a lot in common at the same time. We realized that people from the north-most place in the USA can work together with the people from the most south place in the planet to improve the world we live in. Personally speaking, in my previous experiences, I have permanently connected “dots”, ideas and people from different places around the world. After the response, welcoming and positive reactions we had last week in LatAm, I can state fairly that this was the most successful and gratifying trip I have ever been part of, and I believe that the main reason for that success, is that LatAm investors interests and values are naturally aligned with Capria’s funds, goals and mission, and that of impact investing in general, even though many of them didn’t know what the term meant before. Happily, we are already building a world-changing network together.

By Juan Luis Palma Dominguez,
Investment Manager & Regional Director LatAm, Capria.