In this episode, Ravi Abeywardana, Technical Director, Climate Disclosure Standards Board speaks about how to ensure climate sustainability commitments are embedded within an organisation and not simply ‘corporate green-washing’.

Ravi talks about learning how to turn knowledge into action - “the good thing is that the accountant does not need to be an expert in climate, but you do need to ask the correct questions and understand how climate change could impact the numbers we manage in our books on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, my suggestion to you is take free courses, such as those on the TCFD knowledge hub, and put them into action. It’s not revolutionary but you can start today.”

He also speaks about the importance of collaboration and bringing others on the journey. “Work with your sustainability department or a good consultant to ask questions and find ways to collaborate. Connect with your financial controllers, financial directors and CEOs to advocate for the implementation of climate related disclosures. 

The audio in this episode is a little bit glitchy due to technical difficulties at the time of recording.  However, the message is well worth listening to and we hope you enjoy it.

In this podcast Caroline McGroary explains how you have the power to start an initiative and to make a real difference in your community, for example by helping to boost the financial literacy.

Caroline tells us about the time she spent in Saudi Arabia working to improve the financial literacy of women. Staggeringly, over 60% of Saudi women don’t have bank accounts. This contributes towards issues in the home and in the workplace and leads to gender inequality. Caroline wanted to work under the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDGs) framework, focusing on quality education and gender equality (SDG goals 4 and 5).

As a direct result of the #FinBiz2030 initiative, Caroline designed a series of financial literacy workshops (in conjunction with partners including One Young World and Chartered Accountants Worldwide and Chartered Accountants Ireland) to educate and empower her students to go out into their local communities and educate people about the importance of financial literacy.

Caroline McGroary is a Chartered Accountant and Assistant Professor at Dublin City University.  She is a 2021 One Young World Delegate representing Chartered Accountants Ireland. 

Jonny Jacobs CA, Financial Director EMEA at Starbucks, is a passionate advocate for positive mental health. 

In this podcast he speaks openly about his own struggles with mental health in his teens and talked about the importance of acknowledging challenges people may be experiencing in their lives. 

Mental health is not necessarily a subject that finance people often talk about, but after being asked to speak about it at a Chartered Accountancy event, Jonny was approached by people who found his talk inspiring. “Each time we share a story, we send a lifeboat of hope to somebody else,” he says.

Helping and supporting others is not just a moral and social responsibility in leadership but also has a business case, Jonny argued. “Actually, a healthy economy is about our environment, our communities, our employees – and the health of our employees.” He cited figures which showed the global cost of mental ill health is one trillion dollars. In the UK alone, mental health-related issues carry a £40 billion cost to business and a further £80 billion in social cost. “If we don’t get the health of our workforce right, then how can we have really healthy economies?”

Gareth Parkin, CFO and Senior Vice President at Messer Americas, explains the business case for doing good.

Gareth began by examining the fundamental role of deploying capital and the need to move on and think about organisational portfolios and how to increase spend on sustainable objectives. Gareth described his own experience and how ESG is now an embedded part of his organisation’s credit rating and what his investors want to know about. He also shared examples of trends that will deliver true economic value and deliver sustainable impact, e.g. in the US decarbonisation economy, hydrogen mobility was a pipe dream a few years ago and needed government backing previously; this isn’t the case anymore. Gareth believes that we are now on the cusp and if corporations are aligning the quality of their earnings with sustainability, it is a process that will be here for decades.

Gareth’s Top Tips; building a business case for investment in sustainable growth A traditional business case and a business case for doing good are not mutually exclusive but you need to sometimes think of these larger investments in a slightly different way. 1) Think long-term, this goes beyond a traditional contract term of 15-20years into generational terms. You need to shift the mindset 2) Look at how to lower capital costs and risks eg. look to partner with people to share some of the financial risks or some of the technology risks. 3) As a CFO, don’t just look at the risk, look at the strategic opportunity.

Angelique Pouponneau talks about the threat of climate change to the oceans and the economies of small island communities.  She explains the importance of public finance, private finance and people power, in creating partnerships to save the oceans.

The audio in this episode is a little bit glitchy due to technical difficulties at the time of recording.  However, the message is well worth listening to and we hope you enjoy it.

Angelique is the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust. Currently worth about $22 million, the trust supports community-led projects on marine conservation and climate change.

She is a lawyer (Seychelles and UK,) and she holds an LLM in Environmental law specializing in the law of the sea and natural resources law. She is also a trained climate change negotiator under the AOSIS Climate Change Fellowship Programme at the United Nations.

Angelique has worked in different countries in the Caribbean, Pacific and the Indian Ocean on a wide-range of projects relating sustainable fisheries, sustainable management of marine biodiversity within and beyond national jurisdiction, and climate change – in particular, climate adaptation, loss and damage and climate finance. Further, she served as a legal expert of the African Group of the Sixth Committee in works of oceans and law of the sea at the United Nations.

Moreover, Angelique has experience working with civil society as a co-founder for a not-for-profit organization in Seychelles, and a Board member of a Commonwealth-wide youth-led organization.

Dr. Mosima Mabunda faced multiple challenges in one at the start of her career. Newly relocated to London with her husband, she needed to find the capital to fund her study for an MBA at Oxford University, while seven months pregnant with her first child. Even after giving birth, she combined her studies with working as a locum in a hospital ward which meant long hours away from her young son.

Despite these difficulties, Dr Mosima said she was grateful for the experience now because it taught her that she was able to do more than she had thought she was able to. “I took from that experience that you have more capacity than you realise. Sometimes it takes being pushed against a wall to make you realise that … what looks like a closed door or a wall is actually a growth opportunity; it’s an opportunity for you to show up differently and try different things. There is always a way.”

Now, Mr Mosima is the head of Vitality Wellness at Discovery, one of South Africa’s most innovative companies. “Given what I’ve been through and what I’ve had to overcome, I now believe in the art of the possible. I now thrive on problem solving and enjoy it,” she said.

Kalm Paul-Christian grew up in a deprived neighbourhood in London.  He talks about how he overcame the challenges he faced at school, university and in his career and personal life, and shares his life lessons with us in this podcast.

Kalm Paul-Christian FRSA, Investment Banker, One Young Word Ambassador, is working in FIG M&A at one of the UK’s preeminent banking institutions. He began his career in Rothschild & Co’s Global Financial Advisory Division before joining The Social Investment Consultancy advising corporates, large funds and charities on social investment and social impact prior to returning to investment banking. 

A keen advocate for social mobility and international development, Kalm has served advisory roles for the University of Oxford, Sponsors of Educational Opportunity London, The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, Common Purpose International, Ethical Angels and The Social Investment Consultancy. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, Freeman of the City of London, and member of the Global Nexus angel investor network for philanthropists and social investors. Most significant of all, he is a proud father of a curious 3 year old girl.

Kalm grew up on east London’s notorious Beaumont Estate in Leyton, throughout the early 2000’s into 2010 before the main estate was demolished, where he attended a state school that entered into special measures. He was forced to relocate from the area after his mother’s car was shot at, and the police relocated him to another borough. He temporarily lived with his father until his house was burned down and was forced to move again. As a result he was almost removed from the grammar school he had gotten into for my A-level studies due to breaching the catchment area. Despite these challenges he eventually graduated from the University of Oxford here served numerous prestigious roles, including Vice President of both the Oxford Business Guild and the Oxford University African and Caribbean Society.

He is quoted as saying: “I almost lost the opportunity I had to use education as a means of transitioning beyond my immediate environment. For that reason I have been forever committed to preserving education, and access to opportunity for future generations as a means of social mobility.”

Nathaniel Japhta talks about the challenges of growing up in the Cape Flats, one of the most violent neighbourhoods in South Africa, and the importance of being a role model and a mentor for young people trying to escape difficult backgrounds. 

Nathaniel Japhta is a Chartered Accountant and Entrepreneur that is passionate about people and changing lives. There have been a number of experiences that defined Nathaniel’s upbringing and his outlook on life. He grew up in the Cape Flats in South Africa – one of the toughest places to live for any youngster. There is a constant lure of gangsterism, violence and drugs, extremely under-resources schools and many doesn’t know how to escape it all. Nathaniel overcame these challenges and he was the first in his family to go to university and earn a tertiary qualification.

Despite being a smart and hardworking young man, he admits that he would not have gotten as far as he did have it not been for the people around him, who spoke potential into his life.

Today he owns multiple businesses and is the founder of Pro 226 Africa, an organisation focused on education and sport. His global partners are ex NBA and Euroleague superstars.