Eva-Maria Dimitriadis

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis is the CEO and Managing Partner at The Conduit Connect. 

Launched in 2018, the Conduit Connect exists to scale innovative impact technologies and businesses that are solving some of the most challenging and critical issues of our time. it does this by connecting world class entrepreneurs and fund managers to values aligned impact investors and experts.

One theme of our conversation is how Impact Investing is now maturing so that those investments are both having an impact and making commercial returns. The aim: "the future is a world where you invest your pension, and you not only knew where that money is going, but you know that it's going to a place where you're securing your own future, but also that of your grandchildren by not destroying the planet at the same time."

A second theme the role of long-term relationships and compelling stories in creating that change. To attract investors for the long haul, any for-impact enterprise needs a compelling narrative.

Some disclosures: 

1. No aspect of the interview or these show notes should be taken as investment advice. Any investments you make are done at your own risk. If you are interested in any financial products mentioned, then you should take your own independent financial advice about your situation in the round.
2. Since the interview was recorded I have put approximately 5% of my liquid assets into the Conduit EIS Impact Fund. I did not receive any preferential access or treatment with respect to that investment because of this interview. I did take independent financial advice before deciding.

Links

More on the overall Conduit Connect approach here. As a step towards inclusion, you can submit your pitch on the front page.

More on the Conduit EIS Impact Fund is here. It is managed by Ascension, one of the most active impact VCs in Europe.

Bridges Fund Management's Spectrum of Capital

Timings

0:50 - Q1 What are you doing now? And how did you get there?

13:43 - BONUS QUESTION: What did you learn from your time at Christies?

19:00 - BONUS QUESTION: Isn't ESG a scam, where finance makes money out of greenwashing?

22:18 - BONUS QUESTION: This all very nice, but aren't you sacrificing some returns in order to be having that impact?

24:03 - Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?

28:06 - Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?

36:40 - Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?

39:11 - Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?

40:48 - Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?

42:47 - Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?

More her

Twitter: Powerful_Times

Website hub: here.

Please do like and subscribe, to help others find the podcast.

Thank you for listening! -- David

Transcript

David Bent-Hazelwood: 0:06

Hello, and welcome to What can we do in these powerful times. I'm your host, David bent. I've been working in the field of sustainability and climate change for some 20 years, it feels like the need for change is growing faster than the impact we're delivering. So I'm wondering what can I do next in my career, and speaking with others, they're asking themselves very similar questions, which is why I'm doing this interview series in 30 minute bites, I ask some brilliant people what they're doing now and why all to inspire and enable the audience, which may just turn out to be me through stories grounded in experience. And today, I'm very delighted to say we're joined by Mr. Maria Dimitriadis. She's the Chief Executive Officer of conduit Connect, which is a leading impact investing platform. And we'll get to what that means in a minute. So I Eva Maria, what are you doing now? And how did you get here?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 0:54

Hi, David. Thanks for having me on the show. So I, as you said, I'm leading the conduit Connect, which has an impact investing platform. And what that means is we look for really smart, scalable solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. And we help them to get access to the resources that they need to scale, most typically, funding. And how I got here, definitely a bit of a labyrinth. I like to think it's that mixture of luck and planning, who was a big Seneca said luck is preparation plus opportunity. But it certainly was not a straight line. So when I left university, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. But I thought it involves advertising. And I of course, had missed the window of opportunity for applying to graduate intern programmes. So I floated around for a little while, probably just the summer sort of thinking about what what I could do with my time. And it seemed that everybody around me had already landed internships, jobs. But that's crazy things. And so I went and worked for an establishment that I'm a huge fan of still, and very much respect, which was Christie's the Auction House. And what started as an internship in the wine department, funnily enough, seated, seated a life long love of wine, ended up turning into nearly a decade working with this children, 50 year old organisation. I'm a big fan of art. And I could never have foreseen that I'd end up working in the art world for such a long time. And so I was very lucky. I started in marketing and strategy, which was what I wanted to do. And that evolved, and I ended up becoming a business manager for growth markets and emerging markets. And I was very blessed to be sent all around the world with Christie's, so I got to see places that I might have never seen or might not have seen for a very long time. I was sent to India, Russia, the Middle East, China, and then some more typical places, perhaps like me, or comparison. And I was happy to grow the business. And it was an incredible crash course in so many different things. I mean, gaining new perspectives for one, different cultures, but also different ways of doing business, different ways of negotiating different ways of eating and dining, different kinds of clients and what matters to them, whether it's status or price or repatriating their last legacies. So it's fascinating, and I felt very lucky to be doing it and it all, I think, for me, reached a bit of a crescendo in 2015 or so maybe 26, maybe 2014. We sold a Picasso in New York, it was called Fantasia a very famous, he was painting huge painting. And the whole team globally had been working on getting this incredible sale in and sold for$179 million, which at the time was the world auction record for a single painting. And I remember the next day having this massive calm down after the exhilaration of this great sale and all the press and everything. I'm thinking gosh, there's a lot of money is that really what I'd like to be doing with my time. It's not not any disrespect to the art world or to the value of cultural objects, but more whether that's where I wanted to be channelling my personal gifts. So it took some time but I eventually left and started to think about what I would like to do next and how to use what I need. you to get into an adjacent or potentially totally different field. And I thought maybe one way to do it was to go and work with a family that that had collected art, but had other interests and to learn sort of through through adjacency. And I somehow ended up getting introduced to a family office backed venture fund. And the person that connected to us, as a former client of mine said, you must speak to the street. It's a technology investment business, I said, Well, I don't know anything about technology or investment. And so don't worry, just just have a chat, you understand business, you understand brain business, your managing team. And one thing led to another, and I was hired to be the chief operating officer for their accelerator business. So we were focused on based in the US and the Middle East, helping startups that we're using Tech for Good, that was the premise. And through that, I got to learn about and love investing in startups and understanding how they grow and what they need. And the incredibly challenging environment that building a business is and I'm generally too risk averse to do it myself. It's like, working out not being an artist, thing, working with founders, but not being a founder. And I'm very grateful to that organisation, because it taught me something incredibly new and important to what is the rest of my career. And, and I found a new passion, which I hadn't necessarily expected to or designed in that way. And that led me to when the conduit Club opened in London, it's an organisation of a venue better community for people who care about change. I joined the club and eventually got talking to the team that was responsible for helping deals and transactions in the community helping founders to get access to investors. And I said, I think, you know, I've got a few deals that are potentially of interest and one thing led to another and I got asked to come and run the conduit connect, and it's now four years old. And so we now have about 105 companies in the portfolio, ranging from health care to climate innovation to financial inclusion and economic opportunity. We have a small fund. We support founders from all over the world. And we are looking at businesses that touch all of the Sustainable Development Goals. So that's a long answer to

David Bent-Hazelwood: 7:43

how I got here. Well, as long and fascinating as it and there's a few different bits and pieces to pick up of it. Firstly, a bit of jargon. So family office, what does family office mean for people who perhaps haven't come across that term before?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 7:58

So a family office, I hope I described this well, if it when a family has a significant amount of wealth, such that they need to organise and manage it in a commercial way, they might set up a family office. So just to give an idea, you might say the Rockefellers have a family office. But I think some people do it at much smaller scales. And you can also have a multi family office where a number of families pull together to share resources, maybe lawyers, accountants, tax advisers, and to potentially embark on similar ventures and deals so a family office could do all sorts of things. They could buy property, invest in venture capital,

David Bent-Hazelwood: 8:48

run their accelerator, as you

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 8:50

say. It's anything that an individual might do with their wealth, perhaps in a more organised

David Bent-Hazelwood: 8:57

way. And it feels like it's an American term, which is coming over here. I don't know whether that's a fair appraisal of it, or anyway, that's the origin

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 9:06

actually, I'm not sure.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 9:08

And then the other little bit of jargon to pick up is around platform and fund. And so it was perhaps give us a bit more into the guts of what does conduit connect do? So platform, meaning you're matching commercial ventures, which are relatively early stage and are looking for funding with people who can provide that funding in the orders of 10s of 1000s of pounds coming in per person? Particularly?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 9:35

Absolutely, right. Yes. So we have around 1800 investors and those range from angel investors who might just have a little bit of spare cash and be investing 10,000 or 20,000 pounds into a startup that they believe in, up to family offices who might do 200 or 300,000 or million, and then venture funds and institutions. might be investing large amounts. And the platform is a private deal. website if you like you log in as a member, and can see the relevant information about the deals that are of interest to you. All on the startup side, and it doesn't have to be early stage, we work with companies up to series see another bit of jargon. Those are companies that typically are making 10s of millions in revenue each year, and maybe raising 4050 $60 million or pounds to get to their next milestone and commercialization. So the range can be quite broad. And as you rightly say, we are in the business of matchmaking. So understanding the what we call the mandate of the investor, what are the themes, the sectors, the stages that they want to invest in, some investors might unilaterally invest in education, others might only invest in female founders, others might be obsessed with decarbonisation. So we get to know what that mission is, and find the solutions that fit those themes. And then the fund is a particular product that we've launched in collaboration with a with another fund manager called ascension. And that is really focused on early stage. So seed to Series A, we're talking companies that might be sort of a couple of years to five years old, maybe. And that fund is focused on education, health and well being financial inclusion and climate. And what that means it's a pre allocated pot of money, this fund happens to be available to retail investors. So that can be non professional investors, who would like to support businesses in those themes that don't necessarily have the experience or the time to or the contacts to do that themselves. So they will pass over, let's say 25,000 pounds, that's the entry ticket. And our fund will then deploy it into suitable companies. So that's, that's the fun case.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 12:16

And the point about the fund is that are

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 12:19

That's correct. And I should say, and 25 grand is going to be spread across different assets, and therefore it's not, it's putting many eggs in the basket. Whereas we should put it in the footnotes constitute financial if you are on the platform, and you pay, put an amount of money into one company, that money is tied up with that one company, and you're hoping that company succeeds. And you'll have to think about your overall portfolio to make sure you're not betting on just one egg in your basket for yourself. advice. I am not a financial adviser. But that's absolutely right. I think anybody worth their salt, who's doing venture investing, understands that a large number of startups fail. And in order to have a chance of success, you need to create a diverse portfolio. So that fund typically does eight to 10 deals per year. It's an EIS Fund, which means that UK investors can get some tax relief on the side of investing. But if you need to go back to the family office example, if a family office was looking at their asset allocation across property, listed, equities, etc, they might only put five 10% into venture capital, maybe 20 At the high end, if they're really, really integrated. So it is risky. Yeah.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 13:43

And as you say nothing in this conversation constitutes investment advice. I seriously recommend everybody to get the financial advice that they need that is tailored to them. A process I'm in the middle of doing. I think the other thing I just wanted to ask before we moved on was just connecting back to your time and Christie's and you mentioned how that had been a massive learning experience in business. And is there anything about the business of art and being around art which now transfers into conduit connect, are there any aspects of what you learned? As well as like the commercial side? Quite, might be quite straightforward. Is there anything unexpected from that Christy experience which is very, you find coming up and being important in your role now?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 14:36

It's interesting. Not not a lot of it relates to the art itself belong. This is the business and Christie's it's an incredible organisation. I mean, it's been around forever. When I was leaving, it was celebrating its 20/50 anniversary. And so just think about that client base that it's accumulated since the very first auction which happened in Pall Mall in London. and where they sold, you know, amongst other things, a pile of hay that was written in a book, and they still have the records of every single person that has ever bought or sold an object through the Auction House and what I think is the most translatable lesson and process that I think about quite a lot of content connectors, how to cultivate those relationships with families, people, organisations, where they want to interact with you and be your friends and be or not just client but but ambassador for not just a couple of years, but decades, even centuries, I think what was so powerful at that anniversary was looking at some of the individual paintings that have been sold, and resold and resold again, several times over through the Auction House. So talking from the 19th century, up to today, you can track a painting that's been through those doors, you know, three or four times, and that's, that's pretty impressive. And people who, for example, you know, negotiated before their death, the handling of their estates through an auction house of their choice. So things like that are really amazing. So I often think about, you know, how do I make sure that David Ben has such an incredible experience working with Kandra connect that he not only wants to continue finding incredible solutions, you know, startups like God with us both, that he wants his family to use us that he wants to leave, you know, it's a legacy with us, etc, as if it isn't grand ideas. But also, I think I learned a lot about how you handle clients that thinking about succession planning within your team, there was a lot of competition, you know, someone might have been a big collector of old master paintings, but they also wanted to be sold silver, and the jewellery department also wanted to contact them. And the contemporary department thought, well, if they've got a great, you know, DaVinci, they should have a great big asset. So you'd have to also think about how do you build teams and create a culture where there's not, you know, you kill what you eat, or you kill I like these competitive cultures where you're incentivized to be grumpy about, about the client base. So that I think that was a big lesson. And then I think the other big lesson is around storytelling, you know, how do we keep selling Picassos year after year, it's about the story of that particular piece. There's so much in the narrative arc, that I've been business and creating empathy and creating connection. And the same applies to selling a startup. Well,

David Bent-Hazelwood: 17:53

and particularly where a startup is working in a zone. All startups are inherently risky. But if they are working in an industry, which are a sector, which is potentially quite a novel, or new sector, extra risky, if they're trying to compete, where they're trying to have a positive impact, but their competitors are not trying to have that that's extra risky as well, because they're taken as well as serving customers, there's some extra aspect they're taken on. So to have a compelling story, which helps people to understand why they would feel compelled and connected to that business. fills in the gaps, which the numbers cannot fill in, there's a mystery to there's a risk to any kind of uncertainty to any kind of investment. So which one to choose? That narrative can fill in some of the things which can't be communicated through spreadsheets alone?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 18:49

Absolutely, absolutely. I think it's hard to find a true impact business that doesn't have a good story, because by definition, they're trying to solve a problem that legitimately exists.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 19:00

And so I'll ask, I've asked you this before and I know what your answer is, I think but I just want to there'll be people listening to this, we'll just go there'll be two things really about impact investing. So one will be firstly something like Isn't it just a scam? So there's a lot of ESG like as greenwashing going around, really do have an impact is impact investing really worth the candle will be one kind of thing on people's minds? What was a What's your, obviously you work in it so you obviously think it is worth the candle? How would you how would you engage with somebody who's sceptical about whether finance can ever really be part of the solution?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 19:39

So well, at the risk of sounding too defensive, it's absolutely not a scam. To me, what we do goes far beyond es CI, I think ESG can be done very well and it serves as a means to an end particularly for large organisations that are trying to to re engineer what they've done before and redefine their purpose and start layering on new frameworks for doing good. But I think it can be done very wrong. And it can become a box ticking exercise. I was recently speaking to a fund manager, I won't name, nation, but they very proudly said to me, we're having lunch. And we're really excited. We've been we've launched three new funds and environmental fund research funding the governance fund, I said, I laughed in his face, I said, You're completely missing the point to be seen together, what kind of environmental funds would not also be thinking about the social and governance aspects? You know, I think it unfortunately, misdescribed what they're trying to do, and I'm sure there's some good, some good work in them. But we at Conduit Connect think far beyond that we think about additional impact. So there's a framework that I really love the impact management project, which was set up by a group of entities and really led a lot by bridges fund management. And on it, they talk about impact in different phases. So on the one end, the weak end, in my view, you are screening out the bad, how do we invest whilst taking out fossil fuels, Tobacco, Firearms. And on the other end, it's about only being intentionally and additionally good. So it's, let's create systemic change for the better. And that's really the side that contract connect focuses on. And I long for a day where this doesn't need to be said explicitly, but we've completely believe that you can have a financial return and an impact return. And they go hand in hand. So the better the company does, the more impact they're having, and vice versa. Those are the sorts of business models we look for. So there should be no compromise on financial success by supporting businesses that are doing good if the business model is right.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 22:18

Yeah. And that was going to be my second question. Isn't this all very nice, but I knew sacrificing some returns in order to be having that impact.

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 22:26

Luck with all investing as a spectrum, in the same way that you could invest in a completely non impactful failure, you might have a better result with one portfolio and a worse result with another. Impact Investing is a spectrum as well, we will occasionally see an opportunity where there might be more of a concessionary role for an investor to play. We tend to focus on the pure venture capital style opportunities where, you know, for example, with our fund, every investment that is made, there is an expectation that that company could return 10x on the investment. Now, that's not the same for all companies on the conduct NET platform. But that's the basis for the fund. So there is a spectrum and there are some investors out there who would like to support concessionary opportunities or who would like to support businesses where perhaps some profits are donated to charities, they don't necessarily come back to the investor. So there are different models. There is a lot of hybrid investing and blended finance out there. I don't think we should get into that here. But the short answer is, you know, don't be sceptical. If you're finding the right kinds of opportunities, there is absolute potential for financial and impact return profit and purpose. It should not be a case of value values or, you know, money versus morals. I think there is absolutely a precedent now for for being able to combine both yeah,

David Bent-Hazelwood: 24:03

I mean, my addition there would be as we're speaking Pakistan is 1/3 underwater with glaciers melt. And I think that any business which is not putting addressing climate change at other massive risks, front and centre is one that is not going to succeed into the future. So I almost put it the other way around, and that those which ignore those risks are going to be losing money over time. And yes, I could go on about that for a long time. But no, it's not about me, it's about you so that the next kind of structural question is about what is the future you're trying to create and why.

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 24:49

So much follows on but I'm trying to create and we conduct an effort trying to create a future where the only companies or companies that are doing good Okay, and therefore, by definition, the only investments are investments that do good. And whether they do well is it's different enough, up to a number of different factors. So the future is a world where you invest your pension, and you not only knew where that money is going, but you know that it's going to a place where you're securing your own future, but also that of your grandchildren by not destroying the planet at the same time. So that that's really big picture, what we're looking for. And then I think when you break it down into some specific things, and this might bleed into the next question is things like decarbonisation, and really fast and urgent responses to some of these big crises. And flooding is is a byproduct of that.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 25:55

And it's interesting, you were, as you're talking there about the investments which have returned for you and your children. And longer than the pension, it reminds me of a notion of fiduciary duty, which is not just the cash payouts, the dividends and capital returns over the life of an investment, but also the effect of the world that somebody is trying to retire into. It's not very, like you can have money in the bank. But if you haven't got food on the table because of food can't be grown, it doesn't really help you've got money in the bank. So there's, there's a sort of extra sense of fiduciary duty that is being grown. Now, I think, compared to when

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 26:38

we have to remind ourselves not to be too short sighted, but also not to be discouraged by the vastness of what needs to be solved. I'm often reminded of that, Bill Gates quote, where he said, humanity, I don't know if he said humanity, or people underestimate overestimate what can be achieved in two years, but underestimate what can be achieved in 10. I think sometimes we can kind of look behind us at two years. And thank God that passed really quickly. And we don't have a lot to show for it. But actually, we can make quantum leaps in decades. So I don't believe that there's a silver bullet for any of the crises the world is facing, we were actually having a debate this morning in our office about whether incremental change really helps or whether you need these, you know, single leapfrog moments. And I do believe in incremental change, but I think we need a lot of it. And therefore we all have a role to play in that. Even if we're not investors, just by being consumers.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 27:42

And there's also I think it's the work of African their names mizen somebody on tempered radicalism, where they say, small wins can then build up to a point where the LeapFrog is possible. So these these two things aren't. They're not completely

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 28:00

exclusive. Absolutely. Need to create that runway for takeoff. Yeah. All right.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 28:06

So next question, what are your priorities the next few years and why?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 28:14

I'm interpreting this question is not just me.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 28:19

You could interpret it either way. If so for conduit correct, then

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 28:22

yeah. I would say that. Obviously, we'd like to grow the business and continue supporting incredible founders and investors in finding that match to you so term Alia, but I think, to break down a couple of specific areas, one is has to be up there as decarbonisation, and moving away from fossil fuels. We just simply can't rely on our reliance on fossil fuels going forward. As anyone who's listening to this, sort of at this time, we'll know we're entering the biggest cost of living and energy prices that's been seen in a very long time. This is what are we though first of August 2022. And it's having an incredible butterfly effect on so many different things, you know, things that we take for granted as working in the western world at least having our rubbish collected. Yeah. It's crazy to me that Scotland is currently covered in two week old rubbish that's rotting because there is a strike. Why because the cost of living is making living unaffordable for the collectors and that is completely understandable. And there's going to be more of that kind of action. So these little dominators are gonna start falling and creating huge loss. Another Domino is going to be homelessness me increase in rent. It's going to push people out of hands. We're gonna see more people on the street. So there's a really huge issue. At the recent climate forward conference at the conduit, in collaboration with the New York Times, there was a fact that I hadn't heard before, but which really shocked me. It was Mark Campanella from Carbon Tracker who shared this on stage, that it's four times cheaper to produce renewable energy than it is to produce fossil fuel energy. So why we ask ourselves, are we not all running on renewable energy? It's because our infrastructure is antiquated and built for fossil fuel world, we need to change that radically and fast. And for places like Africa, where we have a greenfield opportunity and a huge population that is needing electrification and growth, it should be a no brainer, should be renewable from the start. So think, think that is a big area. Priority. Certainly, I think another one is around promoting fairer opportunities for all creating more justice and, and equality. So that runs through many different layers of conduit connect from the team to the portfolio to the beneficiaries that are that are impacted by the portfolio. So we are really trying very hard to buck the trend and challenge some of the appalling statistics in venture capital around the amount of funding that goes to female founders, the amount of funding that goes to minority founders, and entrepreneurs that goes to LGBTQIA founders. And to date, we have statistics that are certainly better than benchmark better than industry, and, in some cases, better than even population distribution. So we were about to launch our third impact report, this is our fourth anniversary. And, for example, 11% of contract tech founders identify as LGBTQIA, which is a big improvement on last year, that might be because they're more comfortable reporting might be because they genuinely are more 20% of our teams have mixed founders, in terms of ethnicity. So these are all things that we are constantly conscious of. And we want to ensure that we provide a platform and a service that attracts the best and the brightest and the most important solutions. And it's not a coincidence, or totally luck that you happen to find us because someone knows someone that needs a Contract Act. And that's been a big, big focus for us. But it also extends to the portfolio and what they're trying to do. So for example, what are the business models that are going to make homelessness, an obsolete issue? What are the business models that are going to help anyone anywhere, get to work in a sustainable, clean and affordable way. And those business models we're looking at. So there's a company called Ride tandem, that have built an incredible business that helps people who are far from public transport markets to get to work cheap and keen when not having to drive a car to get to a 5am factory chauffeurs just because you happen to live outside of tier three city. So those I think has some of the key things climate equality, and I think the last one would probably be around health and systems. So it's not just one thing. I think it's a number of different things. But for example, women's health, midlife health, but also systemic change around diagnostics, preventative. We're very lucky in the UK to have the NHS. But not everyone in the world has that fortune. So new models for healthcare that that are dramatically impactful. I think if I can, it's worth showing that from the Kandra connect companies, 105 companies, they employ over 2000 people across across businesses, and have impacted over 22 million lives in the last year. But excitingly is these are some of the statistics we track. Going back to the rubbish comment 25,000 tonnes of waste through their various different business models and captured 322,000 tonnes of carbon. So you It is a small by global scale, but really significant considering that business didn't exist four years ago. And those are some of the things that we prioritise.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 35:12

Yeah, and just on those numbers, those are all for businesses, which are currently in the early stages and hoping to be 10 times larger in a few years time. So that that is almost like the potential for their impact as far as they currently are. And I also wanted to join the dots between what you were saying on decarbonisation, and the risks, and then the, the inequalities I just finished reading, Emirates have coaches that that makes curse. And one of his claims in there is that the parts of the world that did worst on COVID, in terms of deaths, were the ones which had the greatest amount of systemic inequality. So there's been a presumption in the West that rich countries will do will be able to get through climate change, okay, because we can pay our way out of it. But actually, as your example of the Scottish, I want to say desperate men, that's probably not how they're referred to anymore. But it's referred to when I was young, I suppose and services. If you have a situation where there's systemic inequality, then small differences can put large numbers of people into great distress, even if you are a rich country. So I think addressing the inequality, systemic inequalities is actually from a strategic sort of instrumental point of view, not just a moral point of view, necessary to be prepared for the crises that are coming towards us and the disruptions coming towards us. I want to keep going into the fourth question, if someone was inspired to follow all of those priorities, and I think, particularly if they're inspired to come into impact investing, which some people might be, what should they do next.

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 36:50

But it depends on where they are in life and what their short term priorities are. But I think, as I said earlier, everyone has has a role that they can play in this big puzzle, if they are able to participate in the world of impact investing, and I definitely would encourage that in the right way. And that doesn't mean having to be high net worth, oodles of disposable income. One can take steps even around the pension, as we said earlier. And I think just asking oneself, can you what can you do to support a fairer, more sustainable world, if you didn't have financial means, then it could simply be a shift towards more responsible consumerism, you know, thinking about fashion, you know, fashion is responsible for about 10% of global emissions? Could you buy less? Could you use less? Could you reuse food? You know, could you change some of your eating habits? Could you reduce your waste, energy, you know, big, scary, expensive topic of the moment it's, it's actually hard to do better, it can use less, but shifting at the moment is almost prohibitively expensive. So you know, if you can afford to, how can you be responsible energy user? And then And then, you know, on the investment side, yeah, ask where your pension is being invested, take decisions based on that. If you can support new incredible stock terms that have missions that align with your, your own values, then then please do that. If, if that's not within your risk profile, then there are other things that may be it could be changing where your wife is invested, it could be getting involved with local charities. So I think habit, habit trackers, you know, if you're trying to sort of make a big change goes back to the runway and the takeoff analogy. Is there something you can do once a week, maybe once a day, maybe, you know, once a month and I'm starting to make that systematic.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 39:11

Thank you. If your younger self was starting their career now what advice would you give them?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 39:19

Be patient. I think I was disappointed with the slow pace, change. And be curious because as we saw from the labyrinth, you just don't know where things are going to leave. Yeah. made. And it goes back to the lockers, hard work and opportunity. Take opportunities, they won't all lead to something but then once in a while they will and you will never look back. So I think there's those things I think also learn to negotiate early on and sales job in sales as your is your first job and the next part of your job is whatever you were hired to do. So those are those would be some of the lessons and then I think, be passionate about what you what you do and make sure it has purpose.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 40:28

Yes, if nothing else, you're selling yourself into the job, even if that job is technical non salesy one last few questions, who would you nominate? Answer these questions because you admire what they're doing. Can I say two people can say you can say more than two. But definitely.

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 40:48

There are two people that come to mind both women who I know who are incredible leaders and and its operation to me. The first is actually the chair of the Kandra connect Board, Dr. Annalisa, Jenkins, who started her career as a medical doctor, and was one of the first women to go on a British navy mission. And then went to work in pharmaceuticals and big r&d, and has ultimately ended up advising companies like Honda connect, and investing in healthcare businesses primarily who really can make a difference. And I think her approach to leadership has taught me a lot. She's a very inspirational person, who's in high demand would be Emily West is, amongst other things, a career coach, a motivational speaker, a business advisor, I think Emily spent the first sort of 15 years of her career in investment banking, and discovered her passion for leadership and for creating, you know, the values based leadership. And again, you know, I think, sometimes we talk about the team having energy, radiators and energy trains, and these two women are incredible radiators, you know, after half an hour in their presence, I feel like I've been given a shortage of insulin and drip of coffee. Because they are very inspiring and energising

David Bent-Hazelwood: 42:35

Wonderful. Well, I'll ask you to help me contact them. And then just finally, is there anything else you feel you have to say?

Eva-Maria Dimitriadis: 42:47

It's a bit of a cliche, but I'd say be the change you want to see. It links, the thread of our conversation. But for anyone that's listening, just look back on your day and ask yourself if you did anything to reflect what you actually want to affect in the world. Sometimes we get so caught up in the minutiae of logistics, and just getting from A to B, that we have to vote with our wallets and our feet. Make this little iterative changes. Yeah.

David Bent-Hazelwood: 43:23

And I think I also hear what you're saying they're not to have that accountability, self accountability is a burden. But as a reminder, to and to inspire yourself in the sense of being there'll be an energy because one can look back at the end of one staying in business or energy drain. Oh, did I do anything good today, view your meaning and more like, I've done something's good today. And what more can I do tomorrow? What are the habits can I build? What are the things can I be doing? That are the normal part of what we get up to that are contributing to that better world, including the decarbonisation the addressing of inequality and the health which are the priorities you particularly picked out for the next few years? So thank you very much for all of your time and your great answers there. It's fascinating to hear that that journey from Chris Hughes through to impact investing. You've been listening to what we do in these powerful times with myself, David bent. Eva Maria Dimitriadis. Thank you very much.