Lebec’s 2023 Year-in-Review

As we collectively navigate the heavy times we find ourselves in, our team draws inspiration from the impactful work we witness every day. Whether it's the efforts of our clients and partners to alleviate poverty, end hidden hunger, reverse climate change, or invest in women and youth; the dedication of our team; or the powerful spaces we’ve had the privilege of being a part of, we remain hopeful and more determined than ever to shape a better future.

It is in that spirit of optimism and encouragement that we share this celebratory roundup that aims to capture the good we saw in the world in 2023.??

Thank you for being on the journey with us as our third year comes to a close. We wish you and yours a safe and restful holiday season.

CLIENTS CHANGING THE STATUS QUO:

Lebec excels at the intersection of strategy development, crafting distinct value propositions, identifying and recommending sustainable business models and new revenue streams, and convening key stakeholders. This year, we've had the opportunity to support and work with an impressive portfolio of clients:?

• Olivela: a unique luxury fashion retailer with social impact embedded in every transaction.
• Global Business Coalition for Education: a movement of 150+ corporations committed to ending the global education crisis and unleashing the potential of future generations.
• The Elevate Prize Foundation: an organization on a mission to amplify the work of impact leaders for social good and drive change together.
• Sentebale: a non-profit building a more resilient future for and with vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana.
• Urban Growers Collective: a Black- and women-led non-profit farm in Chicago working to build a more just and equitable food system using holistic and scalable approaches.
• Water.org: a global non-profit co-founded that has empowered more than 60 million people with access to safe water or sanitation through affordable financing.
• Sanku: an award-winning non-profit working to end malnutrition in Africa by ensuring flour is fortified with life-saving nutrients.
• Acumen: a global non-profit organization changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in sustainable businesses, leaders, and ideas.
• Simprints: an award-winning non-profit tech company committed to transforming the way the world fights poverty and responds to health and development challenges.

Additionally, as we focus on creating a paradigm shift in our global financial ecosystem, our team continued to support Alliance Global Advisors and its portfolio of clients as a dedicated Environmental, Social, and Governance (#ESG) and impact investing advisor. Some of these clients include:

• Elion: a data-driven industrial logistics real estate investment firm that combines real estate fundamentals with data science to source risk-adjusted opportunities early.
• Stoneweg: a real estate investment firm that specializes in multifamily acquisitions and developments.
• Manulife Financial Providers: a leading international financial services group that provides insurance and investment solutions for individuals and organizations.
• Mirae Asset Securities: a financial services company that operates a leading institutional capital markets platform servicing professional investors with global needs.

BREAKING DOWN SILOS:

Lebec developed and launched a first-of-its-kind ESG + Education Playbook with our client, the Global Business Coalition for Education. This Playbook makes the business case for investing in education, from early childhood, all the way to workforce development. It is written for ESG practitioners and global corporations and ties education to material ESG issues, leveraging education as a tool for businesses to achieve long-term value creation, better financial outcomes, and improved ESG performance. This generated strong interest from many companies including Mastercard and Schneider Electric.

The ESG + Education Playbook can serve as a blueprint for any issue area. It is scalable, replicable, and promises to transform the way companies deliver on objectives for all stakeholders and leverage diverse forms of capital—including #philanthropy and #impactinvesting—to accelerate ESG performance and improve the bottom line in the long run.

SPEAKING, MODERATING, ORGANIZING POWERFUL, PURPOSEFUL EVENTS:

• Lebec participated in The Elevate Prize Foundation’s Make Good Famous Summit, where our Founder and CEO, Alix Lebec, conducted masterclasses for the Foundation’s community of social entrepreneurs and CNN Heroes on how to build impactful and financially sustainable social enterprises.?
• Climate Week NYC: Lebec co-hosted, curated, and moderated a private reception and panel with Ellevest and Beyond Capital Ventures on climate, inclusion, and capital; moderated a Concordia panel hosted by iDE on the future of carbon credits; attended the Clinton Global Initiative and Fast Company Innovation Festival; joined dynamic conversations including with Deloitte and Soho House and caught up with clients and partners.?
• Water, Climate, and Catalytic Philanthropy: Unlocking Solutions to a Sustainable Future at The Conduit: In March, on the heels of World Water Day, Lebec, in partnership with Water.org, brought together its global community at The Conduit in London to explore how flexible and long-term grant funding and investments in clean water and sanitation can accelerate progress towards climate change.?
• Our Founder and CEO Alix Lebec participated in Latimpacto's 2023 “Impact Minds Standing Together” in Rio de Janeiro, where she joined Wenyi Cai, Founder and CEO of Polymath Ventures on stage, along with other influential fund managers. During a Polymath pitch session, Alix Lebec shared her journey in impact investing and why she is personally investing in Polymath as an LP.?
• Our Chief Strategy Officer, Europe, Rafia Qureshi, attended the OECD netFWD Gender Working Group in Paris, France, where she moderated a panel on “Financing gender equality: approaches, challenges, and opportunities for foundations.”?

• Alix participated in the 500 Global UpNext Summit in Washington, D.C., where she moderated a session titled “Evolving the Focus: Institutional Capital as a Driver of Sustainability.” The inaugural summit brought together venture capital investors, asset allocators, innovators, and policymakers to discuss a shared future for technology and innovation.?
• Alix attended the Gender-Lens Investment Summit in Medellin, Colombia, and had the honor of leading a discussion on the opportunities across the capital continuum to grow a new generation of women-led startups transforming key industries in #emergingmarkets.?

ACTIVATING MIAMI’S GROWING PHILANTHROPIC AND SUSTAINABLE FINANCE SCENE:

We continued to build our social impact community in #Miami and convened three exciting events in the city in 2023, bringing together Lebec’s network of #entrepreneurs, #investors, philanthropists, non-profit leaders, and #changemakers:

• Join the Gender Equity Movement, a dinner and panel discussion with Lebec, Acumen, Water.org, and the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth to discuss solutions at the intersection of #gender and #climate.
• Morgan Stanley and Lebec Private Dinner with 40 guests, who came together for a dynamic conversation at the intersection of climate, inclusion, and capital.
• Art Basel Reception with Morgan Stanley and Lebec Consulting with 40 guests, including special guests Stacey Boyd , Founder and CEO of Olivela, and President and Board Member of José Andrés Group, Sam Bakhshandehour, to seed meaningful conversation and collaboration at the intersection of culture, #sustainability, and capital.

ATTENDING MAJOR EVENTS AROUND THE GLOBE:

Our Lebec team also attended:

• GSG Global Impact Summit in Malaga, Spain
• Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France
• Social Impact Summit in Los Angeles, California?
• TEDWomen in Atlanta, Georgia?
• LSE 100XImpact Accelerator Summit Day in London, UK?
• Private Screening of “Origin” and talk with filmmaker Ava DuVernay and Katie Couric at Art Basel in Miami Beach. “Origin” was funded by a unique philanthropy and impact investing business model. Listen to Ava in conversation with Pat Mitchell at the Skoll World Forum 2023 here.?

AMPLIFYING CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS:

Ahead of #COP28, where global leaders convened to take stock of the Paris Agreement and recognize for the first time the need to move away from fossil fuels, Lebec published two articles to help shape our industry and urge for an overhaul of our global financial systems with sustainability in mind:

• August: Alliance Global Advisors: Building a Sustainable Future: The Cost of Developing and Operating Net Zero Real Estate
• October: An interview with keynote speaker, author, and Founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies , Susan McPherson in her Connected newsletter
• November: Investment Monitor: We need a paradigm shift in our global financial ecosystem and we need it now
• Highlighted in the JUST Capital Dec. 1 Newsletter

BOLDLY SHARING OUR VISION IN NEW WAYS:

• Check out our new website?and short animated video

What brought you hope in 2023? What impact do you hope to make in 2024?

Cheers,

Your Lebec Team