Today's episode is a special one. We’re switching things up with a conversation conducted entirely in French.Consider it a linguistic detour from our regular programming.Alors… on y va, et bonne écoute en français.
 Aujourd'hui, je reçois Chloé Coursaget, dirigeante de Circomplex, c'est un cabinet de conseil qui accompagne les organisations face aux grandes mutations environnementales, économiques et sociales. Et à travers son travail, elle aide les dirigeants et dirigeantes à aligner vision, stratégie, communication et mise en action dans un contexte de transformation permanente.Elle est également journaliste, éditorialiste et puis modératrice de débats. Et à ce titre, Chloé anime régulièrement des échanges réunissant experts, entreprises, institutions et acteurs de la finance autour de sujets très variés : l'eau, la durabilité, l'assurabilité des risques ou encore les transitions économiques et sociétales.Son approche repose sur la conviction que les transformations qui ont le plus de chances de porter leurs fruits naissent du dialogue, de la coopération et d'une compréhension systémique des enjeux.
Points clé :

• L’adaptation est un enjeu d’habitabilité avant d’être un enjeu climatique.
• L’inassurabilité révèle les limites de nos modèles économiques et territoriaux.
• Les transformations les plus durables naissent de la coopération entre acteurs aux intérêts différents.
• Face à l’urgence, il faut expérimenter vite tout en pensant le long terme.

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:10Origin & Perspective - 00:02:16The Relationship at the Core - 00:08:35Flash Round - 00:58:27
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, I’m joined by Vincent Gradt, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Impact Earth. Vincent is an investor and operator with more than 20 years of experience across impact investing, natural capital, and frontier markets. Vincent previously led Mirova Natural Capital and was instrumental in launching AXA’s impact investing strategy in 2013, helping shape some of the field’s earliest institutional approaches to sustainable finance.
 So why is Vincent with us today? Sometimes as a founder, an opportunity can be obvious to you, but not to the rest of your peers, and that's where the magic of traction and value creation operate, and that's also where impact in real life appears. In the case of Vincent and his team, they see two not so obvious things.One, the Earth's tropical belt is the key geography to focus on, and two, resilience of tropical ecosystems is not a side outcome of climate capital strategies, but a necessary condition for financial returns in tropical natural ecosystems.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.
Key topics:

• Why protecting nature starts with creating economic opportunities for local communities
• The missing middle in nature finance, and why early-stage capital is essential
• Why tropical ecosystems should be at the centre of climate investing
• How long-term, adaptive investing can unlock resilient natural capital markets

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:26What's your fund all about - 00:02:52Biggest Objections - 00:18:42Flash Round - 00:26:22
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, I’m joined by Alice Kalro, a systems thinker, strategist, and founder of arkH3, prolific thought leader and originator of multiple frameworks and methodologies, including Sustainability-as-the-World-Needs.She is the lead author of Leading through the Polycollapse: A Guide to Systemic Foresight for VUCA Native Strategy, published in April 2025.With arkH3 - her advisory and training firm, she focuses on organisations and investors who are starting to recognise that the only way to navigate systemic risk is through systemic leadership.In this episode, we explore what happens when the models guiding our economies no longer reflect reality — and why climate risk cannot be understood in isolation from the broader collapse of interconnected Earth systems. Together, we discuss systemic leadership, the limits of adaptation, the emotional and political weight of decision-making under uncertainty, and what it means to build agency in a time of accelerating complexity.

• Why climate change cannot be understood in isolation
• Business strategy to systemic leadership
• Agency in the face of polycollapse
• The human side of systems leadership

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:18Origin & Perspective - 00:02:56Tensions - 00:40:06Contrarian Thoughts - 00:47:36Flash Round - 00:53:49
Relevant link:Mentioned - Podcasts du Collège de Francehttps://www.college-de-france.fr/fr/podcasts-du-college-de-france
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, I’m joined by Nadia Nikolova, CEO of responsAbility Investments, M&G’s emerging markets specialist impact asset manager mobilising institutional capital at scale.Nadia is an investment management expert with deep experience in development finance and impact investing, with a strong track record in infrastructure debt and structured finance. As of September 2025, she stepped into the CEO role at responsAbility, a pure-play impact manager focused on deploying capital into sustainable solutions across emerging markets.Prior to this she led the Direct Lending business for Allianz Global Investors across Europe and Asia having built a team investing in impact focused investments globally - from small cap European solutions businesses to blended finance at scale in Emerging markets. As an early entrant, AllianzGI was a market shaper in this field.This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.
Key topics:

• Meet investors where they are. Institutional LPs don't buy impact first; they buy solutions to portfolio needs (risk, return, diversification, liquidity). Impact managers need to package products around investor requirements, not expect investors to adapt.

• The future of impact is becoming mainstream investing. Nadia believes that as climate and social solutions become the new economy, the distinction between "impact investing" and "investing" should eventually disappear—because creating positive impact will simply be part of good investing.

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:02:16Origin & Perspective - 00:03:23Tensions - 00:27:27Contrarian Thoughts - 00:29:12Flash Round - 00:29:32
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, I’m joined by Michelle de Rijk, an impact investor with over 15 years of experience across venture capital and impact investing, currently at Fair Capital Impact Fund.Michelle spent a decade at DOEN Ventures before joining Fair Capital Impact Fund, where she has been involved in backing and supporting companies such as Fairphone, Seepje, and Crowdbuilding.A formative moment in her journey came in 2016, when she spent six months in India working with SELCO Foundation, an experience that deeply shaped her understanding of what systems change looks like when driven by local entrepreneurs and community needs. Across her career, Michelle combines professional investing with a strong commitment to building a more equitable and sustainable world — with a sense of purpose, and a genuine enjoyment of working alongside founders, colleagues, and partners.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.
Key topics:

• Patient capital and long-term investing
• Founder humility, resilience, and self-awareness
• Systemic impact across food, energy, and circular economy
• Eliminating carried interest and rethinking investor incentives

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:46Origin & Perspective - 00:03:33Biggest Objections - 00:19:08Flash Round - 00:23:25
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today I'm joined by Sandrine Henton, founder and managing director of EG Capital, a private credit investment platform focused on climate adaptation across Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of climate finance, resilience, and capital allocation, helping shape new approaches to investing in adaptation across emerging markets. So why is Sandrine with us today? To be serious about planetary boundaries, we collectively need to be serious about how we channel massive amounts of private capital towards Africa, because the scales are more than uneven at this point, and our collective futures depend on it. To do that, how about we start at assessing risk from a clean state with actual data? Because finance and investments are all about data, right? So let's see what Sandrine can tell us about it.
 This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.
Key topics:

• Climate adaptation finance in Africa
• SME resilience and growth capital
• Mobilizing African private capital
• Gender-driven investment performance

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:14Origin & Perspective - 00:02:33Biggest Objections - 00:09:07Flash Round - 00:24:58
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. We welcome some of the fund managers who presented during Funds for Change. Since they only had but a few minutes on stage to explain their unique angles, the sophistication of their approach, the urgent needs they want to address, we decided to offer them more time and broadcast their ideas to a wider audience.Today I'm joined by Lucy Mortimer, founding partner at Archipelago Ventures and environmental finance specialist with over 25 years of experience in climate finance and low-carbon investment. Over her career, Lucy has built a strong network across climate and nature finance, supporting early-stage companies and startups in navigating commercial barriers and scaling within complex markets. Her work sits at the intersection of environmental finance, investment structuring, and venture building, focused on helping capital flow more effectively into solutions for the climate transition.So why is Lucy with us today?I think it's fair to say that in 2026, circular economy can receive a "B+" for participation, but the impact in real life is desperately slow to appear. Some even start to question the possibility that it will ever reach actual market traction, at least without hefty public subsidies. That's the central scenario. And then you have the thematic experts, who jump in, willing to do the work. What's the work you'll tell me?Find the types of hidden industrial solutions that can transform the way materials flow through the economy.Not any materials - the 3 big ones - plastics, metals and textiles, the ones which have significant impacts on human health, oceans & landscapes, climate, biodiversity, both from their extraction & manufacturing, and their end of life management. That's the work.
Key topics:

• Circular economy investing beyond recycling
• Building trust in deep tech and climate finance
• Collaboration as a new model for venture capital
• Unlocking more capital for systemic climate solutions

Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:51Origin & Perspective - 00:02:20Biggest Objections - 00:10:59Flash Round - 00:25:10
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today we sit down with Danielle Turkov, Founder and Executive Director of Think-Film Impact Production, a company she built from scratch to bridge the worlds of film, policy, and social change. Danielle has worked with Oscar- and Emmy-nominated projects like The Cave, iHuman, and BAFTA-nominated Eminent Monsters, using storytelling as a catalyst for real-world impact. Recently, “Mr Nobody Against Putin” won the Oscar and BAFTA for best documentary. Danielle is also part of the team who’s bringing “The voice of Hind Rajab” story to wider audiences.In this episode, she shares her journey from political strategist in the EU to global impact producer — and how film can move systems as powerfully as finance can. Enjoy the ride, and stay tuned for a possible part 2 with Danielle, as there is certainly more to cover!
Key topics:

• Why storytelling is a form of systemic power
• How impact films can influence laws and institutions
• The tension between finance, empathy, and human rights
• What it takes to build trust-driven change in volatile systems
  

Episode Breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:06Origin & Perspective - 00:03:04The Relationship at the Core - 00:10:29Tensions, Lessons & Tools - 00:30:49Contrarian Thoughts - 00:35:12Your go-to person - 00:37:19Flash Round - 00:39:33
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, we are happy to welcome Marcel Zuidam, CEO of Triodos Bank, one of Europe’s leading banks in sustainable finance. Before joining Triodos, Marcel held senior leadership roles across mainstream finance, including CEO positions at NN Bank and Delta Lloyd Bank, giving him a rare perspective on both conventional and regenerative models of capital. In this conversation, we explore what it really means to finance change and change finance, from the myths still embedded in mainstream markets to the deeper question of how capital can serve societies, ecosystems, and long-term resilience rather than short-term extraction.Key topics:- Why finance is never neutral and capital always takes sides.- How the financial system became extractive rather than useful.- Why transparency alone will not redirect capital toward impact.- The tension between urgency and patience in systems change.Episode Breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:27Origin & Perspective - 00:02:24Financing Change & Changing Finance - 00:05:47Systems Thinking & Leverage Points - 00:11:44Democratic Guidance & Incentives - 00:18:03The Myths of Mainstream Finance - 00:23:15What a Regenerative Financial System Could Look Like - 00:26:09Urgency vs Patience - 00:27:58Contrarian Thoughts - 00:29:02Flash Round - 00:30:15Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff

Today, we are happy to welcome Benjamin Le Pendeven, associate professor of entrepreneurial and responsible finance at Audencia Business School, where he leads the “Finance for Innovation” research chair focused on impact investing, innovation financing, and social impact bonds. He collaborates with public institutions, private investors, and NGOs and previously worked as an entrepreneur and impact investor.Key topics:

• Why experimentation isn’t the problem, scaling and persistence are.
• How persistence and stability in teams matter as much as patient capital.
• Why impact investing must think beyond pilots, metrics, and exits.
• How academia can act as a bridge between finance, policy, and real-world change.

Episode Breakdown:Welcome - 00:00:00Origin & Perspective - 00:03:06The Relationship at the Core - 00:23:12Contrarian Thoughts - 00:32:12Your go-to person - 00:33:54Flash Round - 00:34:59