Creating impact at a distance
By Rebecca
I know that while it would be incredibly impactful for us to see the community first hand in order to refine our recommendations accordingly, our client truly understands the community best and will give us meaningful feedback so that we can refine our final report and create the impact we are striving for.
I should be preparing to leave for the airport shortly, but due to the current Coronavirus outbreak, I will be spending my spring break in Massachusetts instead of Brazil. While I am disappointed we won’t be traveling this week, I completely understand the difficult decision BU had to make. I am thankful for how accommodating BU, Professor Flammer, and my client in Brazil have been throughout this entire process.
While I wish we could present all of the work we have done over the last two months to our client in person, I am excited we still get to share it, even if it is virtually. My team has been working hard to create a strong recommendation to the problem our organization faces. I also think thus far, this has been a tremendous learning opportunity for myself.
I selected a project working with an impact investing B-corp, due to my new-found interest in the impact investing space. This is an interest that has grown throughout my time at BU. However, I am realizing through this process that my understanding of impact investing was extremely limited. I thought people who worked in impact investing worked at an asset management firm and that was the scope of the industry. This project has taught me that this is not the case. The bulk of our project was assisting our organization with their for-profit side of the business, namely the consulting services they offer. Their sustainable finance program has business and impact consulting at the core. Before diving into this project, I didn’t realize there were firms such as this one that support companies, specifically in this case financial institutions, create business models to support socially and environmentally responsible management programs. I find the work this organization is doing fascinating and am thankful I got to partner with them on this project.
Since the decision not to go to Brazil, I have been grappling with this idea of making an impact at a distance. In the past, I have felt you truly can’t make a lasting impact when you don’t fully understand the community. While I still believe this to be true, I do think my team and myself will be able to create impact given the work we have already done. We have worked hard to understand the impact investing space and how it operates in Latin American countries as well as across the world. We have learned as much as we possibly can from a distance. I know that while it would be incredibly impactful for us to see the community first hand in order to refine our recommendations accordingly, our client truly understands the community best and will give us meaningful feedback so that we can refine our final report and create the impact we are striving for.