Innovative models shared at Europe’s first SOCAP conference.

Originally posted on the CSRwire website.

By Jeffrey Hollender

Innovation. Passion. Possibility. Potential. Just four words that come to mind when I think back on the first-ever SOCAP/Europe conference (an organization dedicated to the flow of capital towards social good), which took place on May 30-June 1 in Beurs van Berlage, an extraordinary building that was Amsterdam’s original stock exchange.

What transpired over the course of three days was an exploration into the wondrous realm of people fearlessly fighting back against a world gone wrong. People excited by their ideas and, yet, uncertain as to how those ideas would manifest themselves in the real world. With seven hundred people from more than 50 countries touching every corner of the globe present, the energy and excitement was palpable.

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“Tonight we move forward a new idea, that capital is used for meaning.” Naomi Smith reports from SOCAP/Europe.

Originally posted on the CSRwire website.

By Naomi Smith

“This impact investing space is kind of like the big bang,” says Brian Walsh, director of Liquidnet for Good. My first night at the SOCAP/Europe conference and Brian has summed up the 100+ page masters thesis I have just completed in these two words. As we stand together in the Beurs Van Berlage historic stock exchange in the centre of Amsterdam, surrounded by 650+ attendees from over 50 countries, I see exactly what Brian means. All around us are investors and entrepreneurs who share a common vision of a blended value approach to the way we should do business. Age old capitalist thinking in which profit maximization has stood as the cornerstone of purpose is being shaken up by this small yet rapidly growing industry of social business where financial returns are partnered with social and environmental impact.

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