In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL interviews Erlijn Sie, a seasoned social entrepreneur, leader, and social business advisor. Erlijn wrote a book on Reimagining Financial Inclusion, a must-read for all corporate business leaders concerned with the future of our planet. In the book, Erlijn talks about the 5 levers that change and impact our financial system.  Erlijn also talks about ESG with a focus on social innovation and how social innovators support companies in the achievement of their impact.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Maybe in the last few decades, we became a bit too focused on the monetary side of ESG and some companies started to forget their core relevance to society. We’re now all trying to find our way back to that societal value that we originally all started to build our organizations with. What makes social innovation (a person, a solution, a product) different from big corporations' purpose is that smaller companies do it in such a radically different way, taking an issue they care about, feel passionate about, and want to radically solve.
• There’s nothing wrong with taking a good business model to support social innovation, but I do feel it should follow a solution and what fits that solution best. You don’t start your business by monetizing social innovation. You start with the issue, analyze the root causes, and think about how others can contribute to solving that issue.
• Big powerful corporations still underestimate the potential change they could bring, especially financial resilience for those who need it most. Our former financial system was built last century when we didn’t have the digital technology we do have now. With such technologies and the speed of their development, we are way more able to financially include many more disadvantaged individuals or excluded people. If big corporations (not just banks and insurers) start to see the power of newer technologies, imagine how powerful they could be in the space financially, including so many more people, we can then start to really transform the system.
• We are currently dealing with a former financial system that basically serves half of the world’s population. That’s fundamentally wrong, we all know that financial services like being able to save your money in a safe place, getting a loan, insurance, and pensions, all these financial services allow you to live your life to your full potential. If you exclude more than half the world’s population from that system, that’s a waste of talent! We need to reform the financial system in such a way that we include the other half. We can only do that if all companies work with us to tackle those flaws. Most of the flaws that are built into our former financial system are because last century's technologies didn’t allow businesses to include them affordably. Nowadays we can include so many of them if we truly want to.

 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I became a social entrepreneur by accident because I felt I needed more meaning in my day-to-day life, that’s why I founded a micro-finance institution providing very small loans to the most excluded people in the world.’ 

‘ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. I’m mainly focussed on the ‘S’, I feel that the ‘Social’ angle goes first.’

‘Most systemic issues are too big for one of us to solve, the solution needs to be co-created among like-minded experts or people you feel can contribute to solving the issue best.’

‘Entrepreneurial qualities are much more needed nowadays than they were last century. This has a lot to do with how fast change happens these days. The most important skill for all of us to learn is how to cope with change, how to be resilient, how to be able to constantly adapt to change.’

 

ABOUT THE GUEST

Erlijn is a seasoned social entrepreneur, leader, and social business advisor to both the social sector as well as the business/corporate sector. Her background is rooted in business management and her focus is on social innovation and financial inclusion. She has supported a range of systems able to change social entrepreneurs, as well as impacted the corporate sector to develop new strategies, approaches, and models to drive inclusion in society. Erlijn brings a combination of deep insights, hands-on experience, and the latest trends in social innovations, blended business models, hybrid value chains, and new ways of organizing. She is dedicated to catalyzing impact in general, and financial inclusion especifically, by connecting innovative and inclusive solutions with the challenges of corporations.

Website: http://erlijnsie.nl/ 

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner. 

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Website: www.sabinevdl.com