Women Changing Finance

What if we designed finance around the outcomes we want? In this episode, Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder of Social Finance, shares learnings from 15 years of experimenting with new financial models and what that has taught her about creating meaningful, measurable change. Tracy takes us inside fascinating examples, from helping people train for better-paying jobs without taking on traditional debt, to financing pathways into AI, nursing and climate careers, to helping families build wealth through home and employee ownership. We also explore her idea of the “third wallet”: capital that sits between traditional investing and philanthropy, where money can be invested for impact, returned and used again. In this conversation, you’ll hear: 

• Why the person you are trying to help shouldn’t necessarily carry the greatest financial risk
• How Social Finance uses zero-interest, outcomes-based loans to finance skills and career development
• How to combine philanthropic, public and private capital around a common outcome

This episode is a practical look at what becomes possible when we stop asking only, “What return will this capital generate?” and start asking, “What change could this capital unlock?”

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Read Tracy’s full bio
• Follow Tracy on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Social Finance — https://socialfinance.org/
• Google Career Certificates — https://grow.google/certificates/
• Western Governors University (WGU) — https://www.wgu.edu/
• Claude Corps — https://www.anthropic.com/claude-corps
• CodePath — https://www.codepath.org/
• Blackstar Stability — https://blackstarstability.com/
• Apis & Heritage Capital Partners — https://www.apisheritage.com/
• Social Finance Institute — https://socialfinance.org/institute/
• Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, University of Chicago Booth — https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/rustandy
• Impact-First Investing (IFI) Tool — https://ifitool.org/

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

What if some of the biggest opportunities to create impact alongside financial returns are in the markets investors still hesitate to enter? In this first episode of Season 3 on Women Changing Finance, Eliza Foo, Director of Impact Investing at Temasek, one of the largest investors in Asia, explains how Temasek invests for impact: looking for market-rate financial returns while holding a high bar for measurable impact, and investing in businesses where commercial success directly drives better outcomes for people and planet. We explore what Eliza is seeing across emerging markets: from India’s deep entrepreneurial ecosystem and digital infrastructure to growing momentum in financial inclusion and climate solutions across Southeast Asia. Technology is helping make essential products and services more affordable, while a new generation of Asian investors and family offices is increasingly looking at how purpose can sit alongside investment. Temasek has understood that capital alone isn’t enough. Eliza shares how collaboration and market building are inherent to her job, working with fellow investors and ecosystem partners, sharing knowledge and building capabilities within the sector. The opportunities are real, the risks need to be understood, and we know much more today about what works. It’s time to put that knowledge, and more capital into action.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Read Eliza’s full bio
• Follow Eliza on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Temasek — https://www.temasek.com.sg/
• Temasek Trust — https://www.temasektrust.org.sg/
• Solugen — https://solugen.com/
• Ola Electric — https://www.olaelectric.com/
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) – NPCI — https://www.npci.org.in/
• GIIN Impact Lab — https://thegiin.org/impact-lab/
• Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP) — https://ciip.com.sg/
• Ecosperity Week — https://www.ecosperity.sg/
• Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) – FAST-P — https://www.fast-partnership.com/
• Out of Poverty – Paul Polak — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/575944/out-of-poverty-by-paul-polak/9781605092768
• A Different Kind of Power – Jacinda Ardern — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/744301/a-different-kind-of-power-by-jacinda-ardern/

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

Women are among those most affected by climate change. But what if we've been telling the wrong story? In this episode, Sana Kapadia, Chief Catalyst at Heading for Change, shares what she’s seeing in many countries: women are already creating many of the most innovative solutions to climate change. The real challenge is that climate finance hasn't caught up. Together, we explore what it really means to invest at the intersection of climate and gender, and why this is about making better investment decisions. Sana shares how her team is using catalytic capital to demonstrate what's possible, building a global portfolio of climate funds that back women-led climate solutions, from clean energy and sustainable supply chains to nature-based innovations. In our conversation, we discuss why a gender lens helps investors uncover innovation and opportunities that are often overlooked, and how grants, investments, and ecosystem building can work together to unlock greater impact. This episode shows why and how finance can move beyond seeing women as beneficiaries and start recognising them as leaders, innovators, and agents of change.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Sana on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Heading for Change — https://www.headingforchange.org/
• GenderSmart — https://www.gendersmartinvesting.org/
• Wharton Social Impact Initiative — https://socialimpact.wharton.upenn.edu/
• Artha Networks — https://www.arthanetworks.com/ 
• Invest for Better — https://investforbetter.org/
• Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) — https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/
• IDRC (International Development Research Centre) — https://idrc-crdi.ca/
• Earthshot Prize — https://earthshotprize.org/
• Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (book/course by Thích Nhất Hạnh) — https://plumvillage.org/books/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet
• Empireworld (book by Sathnam Sanghera) — https://www.sathnam.com/empireworld/
• The History of the World in 21 Women (book by Jenni Murray) — https://oneworld-publications.com/work/a-history-of-the-world-in-21-women/ 

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

Brazil is becoming one of the most interesting places in the world for impact and climate finance. In this episode, Fernanda de Arruda Camargo, founding partner of Wright Capital Wealth Management shares her perspective on the country’s evolving ecosystem. With over three decades of experience in financial markets, Fernanda shares examples of how investors, regulators, development banks, and entrepreneurs have successfully collaborated and unlocked significant amounts of capital for sustainable development. She highlights how public funding has attracted private investors to innovative approaches supporting regenerative agriculture, bioeconomy, and nature-based solutions. We also discuss how she helps wealth owners align investments with their values while still pursuing financial returns. This conversation offers valuable lessons and practical examples from one of the most dynamic markets, showing solutions that simultaneously restore ecosystems and strengthen communities.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Fernanda on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Wright Capital Wealth Management — https://www.wright.capital/en/
• Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA) — https://www.anbima.com.br
• National Development Bank of Brazil (BNDES) — https://www.bndes.gov.br
• EcoInvest Brasil — https://www.gov.br/tesouronacional/pt-br/fomento-ao-investimento/eco-invest-brasil
• Vox Capital — https://voxcapital.com.br
• MOV Investimentos — https://movinvestimentos.com.br
• Belterra Agroforestry — https://www.belterra.com.br/en
• Fundação Vale (Vale Foundation) — https://www.fundacaovale.org
• Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David R. Hawkins — https://veritaspub.com/product/letting-go/

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

What does it take to finance a country's transition to a more sustainable economy? In this episode, Seçil Yıldız, Sustainability and Impact Leader at the Development and Investment Bank of Türkiye, speaks about the role development finance can play in accelerating environmental and social progress. Seçil shares how her team works at the intersection of finance, policy, and impact and how they help channel capital into renewable energy, circular economy initiatives, water resilience projects, and businesses that are creating better opportunities for women. We also explore why development banks are often the first institutions willing to finance emerging technologies and ideas before they become mainstream. Most importantly, Seçil reminds us that sustainability is not simply about reducing harm. It is about creating long-term prosperity for people, communities, and future generations.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Seçil on LinkedIn

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

Why do less than 2% of investments go to female founders globally? And what are we missing because of it? In this episode, Tokunboh Ishmael, one of Africa’s leading voices in impact investing and gender lens finance, explores the realities of investing to improve lives across Africa. As co-founder of Alitheia Capital, managing over $250 million in assets, Tokunboh has spent nearly two decades investing in businesses that expand access to finance, clean energy, and economic opportunity. In this conversation, she shares examples of what success looks like:

• helping grow a small financial services company into a national player serving underserved entrepreneurs,
• supporting a farmer aggregation business connecting West African farmers to international markets,
• backing a woman-led manufacturing company that now powers surrounding communities while creating jobs and export opportunities.

This discussion touches on why diversity leads to better business decisions and why impact investing done well makes sense from all perspectives: economic, social, and environmental.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Tokunboh on LinkedIn
• Read Tokunboh's full bio

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Alitheia Capital — https://alitheia.com/
• Alitheia IDF - https://www.alitheiaidf.com/
• 2X Global (2X Framework) — https://www.2xglobal.org/
• The Earthshot Prize — https://earthshotprize.org/
• The Atomic Human by Neil Lawrence — https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455130/the-atomic-human-by-lawrence-neil-d/9781802062106
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin — https://gabriellezevin.com/tomorrowx3/
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/209887/ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline/

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

What if financiers started thinking like finance ministers? In this episode of Women Changing Finance, Megumi Muto, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Deputy Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Mizuho Financial Group describes what it means to integrate impact into one of Japan’s largest financial institutions. Megumi brings a rare dual perspective: decades in development finance, including at JICA, and now as a sustainability executive inside a large bank, financing industrial transformation. From hydrogen and carbon credits to adaptation finance and blended finance, Megumi explains how Mizuho is working to transform industries like energy, steel, chemicals, and automotive, and make them more sustainable. She shares how Mizuho is embedding impact across $14 billion in assets, and we explore:

• What  “transition finance” looks like in practice
• Why impact-related decisions must take future impacts into account
• Why public and private actors must collaborate from the very beginning
• How Japan leads regional efforts on adaptation and transition finance across Asia.

This episode is about bridging worlds: public and private, short-term and long-term, profit and purpose.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Read Megumi's full bio

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• Mizuho Financial Group — https://www.mizuhogroup.com
• Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) — https://www.jica.go.jp
• Impact Driven Finance Initiative (IDFI) — https://idfi.jp
• Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) — https://www.dbj.jp
• Asia Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) — https://www.theacmf.org
• ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance — https://www.theacmf.org/sustainable-finance/publications/asean-taxonomy-for-sustainable-finance-version-4
• Asia Transition Finance Study Group — http://atfsg.org/
• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction — https://www.undrr.org/implementing-sendai-framework/what-sendai-framework
• GSG Impact Japan - https://impactinvestment.jp

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

What if it was possible to build a regenerative economy? In this episode, Laura Ortiz Montemayor, a pioneer of regenerative finance in Latin America and founder of SVX Mexico, unpacks assumptions behind today’s impact investing models and why they often fall short. Laura shares her perspective on one of the biggest challenges in the Latin American region: the belief that job creation alone equals impact, and protecting nature is treated as “nice to have”. She explores how impact investing has evolved from socially focused initiatives to a more integrated understanding that we cannot separate people from the ecosystems they depend on. Laura also introduces the concept of regeneration as a fundamental quality of life and how this enabled her to create a fund that supports regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions. Through powerful examples, she explains how finance can support biodiversity, community resilience, and long-term value creation. This is an invitation to think differently and to co-create financial systems rooted in local wisdom, interdependence, and care.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also:

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Laura on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• SVX Mexico – https://www.svx.mx/
• Regenera ventures Fund – https://regeneraventures.com/
• ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs) – https://www.andeglobal.org/ 
• Oxford Impact Investing Programme –https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/executive-education/person-programmes/oxford-impact-investing-programme
• SVX Canada – https://www.svx.ca/
• John Fullerton / Capital Institute (Regenerative Economy) – https://capitalinstitute.org/
• Beneficial Returns (Reciprocity Fund) – https://www.beneficialreturns.com/
• Vandana Shiva – https://navdanya.org/
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass – https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/
• bell hooks – All About Love – https://dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/items/all-about-love-new-visions-bell/All-About-Love-New-Visions-Bell.pdf

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

How do you make sense of a rapidly evolving impact investing landscape? In this episode, Zuleyma Bebell, Co-Founder and COO of ImpactAlpha, explores how stories, data, and community are shaping the future of finance. Over the past 10 years, ImpactAlpha has grown from a start-up into the leading voice in the field, tracking trends, connecting people, and making impact investing more approachable. We discuss what has changed in the industry, what signals matter today, and how investors are navigating uncertainty. We also talk about learning and what it takes to build and grow a business in a space that can often feel intimidating from the outside. But progress doesn’t happen in isolation. Zuleyma shares why building trust, staying curious, and simply talking to people may be the most important things we can do. This episode is an invitation: step out of your bubble, reach out, and be part of the conversation.

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also:

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Follow Zuleyma on LinkedIn

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.

In this episode, Angela Achitei, a true pioneer of the social economy in Romania, shares how she built one of the most inspiring ecosystems of social enterprises in Eastern Europe. She started simple: hiring 25 people with disabilities when no one else would. Over the past 15 years, she expanded from one business into a group of businesses across sectors, from recruitment to travel services, all designed to create opportunities for people from vulnerable backgrounds. But like many social entrepreneurs, Angela faced a major barrier: access to finance. She shares how this challenge led her to co-create a community-owned financial institution, built with other entrepreneurs, to fund what traditional markets wouldn’t. This is a conversation with someone who doesn’t take no for an answer and who has demonstrated that social impact and business success can reinforce each other. 

Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!

You can also:

• Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
• Read Angela's full bio
• Follow Angela on LinkedIn

To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:

• ADV Romania (Alături de Voi Romania Foundation) — https://www.advromania.ro
• UtilDeco — https://www.utildeco.ro
• WISE Travel — https://wise.travel/en/
• Job Direct — https://www.jobdirect.ro
• AFIN (IFN) — https://afin.org.ro
• Social Finance Association (Asociatia pentru Finantare Sociala) — https://finantaresociala.ro
• TISE (Poland) — https://tise.pl
• Social Economy Europe — https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org
• ENSIE (European Network of Social Integration Enterprises) — https://www.ensie.org
• FEBEA (European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks) — https://www.febea.org
• Microfinance Europe (Microfinance Centre) — https://www.mfc.org.pl

Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.