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Article - McKinsey Quarterly - February 2018
A closer look at impact investing
By Vivek Pandit and Toshan Tamhane
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The mistaken rap on this kind of “social” investment is that returns are weak and realizing them takes too long.
With the fraying contract between society and business an urgent priority, many companies and banks are eager to find investments that generate business and social returns. One avenue is “impact investing,” directing capital to enterprises that generate social or environmental benefits—in projects from affordable housing to sustainable timberland and eye-care clinics—that traditional business models often sidestep.
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Mainstream investors often fear to tread on this terrain, leaving the field to adventurous venture capitalists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who act as “first institutional investors.” While they see a clear upside in new customers and satisfied employees, they accept the conventional view that these investments can’t be scaled adequately to create attractive returns, carry higher risk overall, and are less liquid and thus tougher to exit. Impact investing may be forecast to grow to more than $300 billion by 2020, but even that would be a small fraction of the $2.9 trillion or so that will likely be managed by private-equity (PE) firms worldwide in 2020.
Our research in India—a testbed of new impact-investment ideas, where some 50 investors have poured $5.2 billion into projects since 2010 and investment is growing at a 14 percent annual clip—presents a different perspective. We tested four notions that have made mainstream investors shy. The findings suggest that as more companies and larger investors become acquainted with the true state of play, in India and elsewhere, they’ll find investment opportunities that align with their social and business aims.
The myth of lower returns
Impact investments in India have demonstrated how capital can be employed sustainably and how it can meet the financial expectations of investors. We looked at 48 investor exits between 2010 and 2015 and found that they produced a median internal rate of return (IRR) of about 10 percent. The top one-third of deals yielded a median IRR of 34 percent, clearly indicating that it is possible to achieve profitable exits in social enterprises.
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We sorted the exiting deals by sector: agriculture, clean energy, education, microfinance firms and others that work to increase financial inclusion, and healthcare. Nearly 80 percent of the exits in financial inclusion were in the top two-thirds of performance. Half the deals in clean energy and agriculture generated a similar financial performance, while those in healthcare and education have lagged. With a limited sample of only 17 exits outside financial inclusion, however, it is too early to be definitive about the performance of the other sectors.
Exhibit 1 shows some evident relationships between deal size and volatility of returns, as well as overall performance. The larger deals produced a much narrower range of returns, while smaller deals generally produced better results. The smallest deals had the worst returns and the greatest volatility. These findings suggest that investors (particularly those that have been hesitant) can pick and choose their opportunities, according to their expertise in seeding, growing, and scaling social enterprises.
Exhibit 1
Midsize deals produce better results on average, while the smallest generated the greatest volatility.
Capital doesn’t need as much patience as you think
Our analysis shows that both the mean and the median holding periods when investors exit have been about five years, no different than the holding periods for conventional PE and venture-capital (VC) firms. Deals yielded a wide range of returns no matter the holding period. Viewed another way, this also implies that social enterprises with strong business models do not need long holding periods to generate value for shareholders.
Conventional funds are joining in
Social investment requires a wide range of investors to maximize social welfare; companies receiving investment need different skills as they evolve. Stage-one companies need investors with expertise in developing and establishing a viable business model, basic operations, and capital discipline. For example, one investment in a dairy farm needed a round of riskier seed investment before becoming suitable to conventional investors.
How impact investing can reach the mainstream How impact investing can reach the mainstream
Read the article
Stage two calls for skills in balancing economic returns with social impact, as well as the stamina to commit to and measure the dual bottom line. And stage three requires expertise in scaling up, refining processes, developing talent, and systematic expansion.
Exhibit 2
Core impact investors play a critical role in seeding and de-risking social enterprises.
Core impact investors were the first investors in 56 percent of all deals (Exhibit 2) and in eight of the top ten microfinance institutions in India. Significantly, we found that this led to interest from conventional PE and VC funds, even as the business models of the underlying industries began to mature. Conventional PE and VC funds brought larger pools of capital, which accounted for about 70 percent of initial institutional funding by value.1 This is particularly important for capital-intensive and asset-heavy sectors such as clean energy and microfinance. Overall, mainstream funds contributed 48 percent of the capital across sectors (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 3
Overall, mainstream funds contributed nearly half the capital across sectors.
Club deals that combine impact investors and conventional PE and VC funds contributed 32 percent of capital and highlight the complementary role of both kinds of investors. As enterprises mature and impact investors remain involved, they are able to pull in funding from mainstream funds. Nonprofit organizations also play a complementary role by providing highly effective boots-on-the-ground capabilities. Nonprofits have typically been active longer than impact companies and have developed cost-effective mechanisms for delivering products and services and implementing business plans. Impact investors could be seen as strategic investors in nonprofits, which in turn play a role in scale-up, talent attraction, and the delivery of financial and operating leverage. One impact investor, for instance, built a sister organization to coach microfinance founders as they set out, and helped them build skills.
The social impact is significant
Impact investments touched the lives of 60 million to 80 million people in India. That’s equivalent to the population of France, a figure that is much greater than the proverbial drop in the ocean many imagine impact investment to be—more like a small sea. To be sure, India has vast populations of people in need. But then again, as social enterprises scale, so will their impact, reaching a critical number of at-risk people in smaller populations.
As investors reexamine their understanding of impact investing, the capital commitments they make are sure to expand. That will undoubtedly provide new challenges. But our research suggests that this nascent asset class can meet the financial challenges as well as achieve the social returns sought by providers of capital globally.
About the author(s)
Vivek Pandit is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Mumbai office, and Toshan Tamhane is a senior partner in the Jakarta office.
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and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who act as “first institutional investors.” While they see a clear upside in new customers and satisfied employees, they accept the conventional view that these investments can’t be scaled adequately to create attractive returns, carry higher risk overall, and are less liquid and thus tougher to exit. Impact investing may be forecast to grow to more than $300 billion by 2020, but even that would be a small fraction of the $2.9 trillion or so that will likely be managed by private-equity (PE) firms worldwide in 2020.
Our research in India—a testbed of new impact-investment ideas, where some 50 investors have poured $5.2 billion into projects since 2010 and investment is growing at a 14 percent annual clip—presents a different perspective. We tested four notions that have made mainstream investors shy. The findings suggest that as more companies and larger investors become acquainted with the true state of play, in India and elsewhere, they’ll find investment opportunities that align with their social and business aims.
The myth of lower returns
Impact investments in India have demonstrated how capital can be employed sustainably and how it can meet the financial expectations of investors. We looked at 48 investor exits between 2010 and 2015 and found that they produced a median internal rate of return (IRR) of about 10 percent. The top one-third of deals yielded a median IRR of 34 percent, clearly indicating that it is possible to achieve profitable exits in social enterprises.
Would you like to learn more about our Private Equity & Principal Investors Practice?
Visit our Private equity page
We sorted the exiting deals by sector: agriculture, clean energy, education, microfinance firms and others that work to increase financial inclusion, and healthcare. Nearly 80 percent of the exits in financial inclusion were in the top two-thirds of performance. Half the deals in clean energy and agriculture generated a similar financial performance, while those in healthcare and education have lagged. With a limited sample of only 17 exits outside financial inclusion, however, it is too early to be definitive about the performance of the other sectors.
Exhibit 1 shows some evident relationships between deal size and volatility of returns, as well as overall performance. The larger deals produced a much narrower range of returns, while smaller deals generally produced better results. The smallest deals had the worst returns and the greatest volatility. These findings suggest that investors (particularly those that have been hesitant) can pick and choose their opportunities, according to their expertise in seeding, growing, and scaling social enterprises.
Exhibit 1
Midsize deals produce better results on average, while the smallest generated the greatest volatility.
Capital doesn’t need as much patience as you think
Our analysis shows that both the mean and the median holding periods when investors exit have been about five years, no different than the holding periods for conventional PE and venture-capital (VC) firms. Deals yielded a wide range of returns no matter the holding period. Viewed another way, this also implies that social enterprises with strong business models do not need long holding periods to generate value for shareholders.
Conventional funds are joining in
Social investment requires a wide range of investors to maximize social welfare; companies receiving investment need different skills as they evolve. Stage-one companies need investors with expertise in developing and establishing a viable business model, basic operations, and capital discipline. For example, one investment in a dairy farm needed a round of riskier seed investment before becoming suitable to conventional investors.
How impact investing can reach the mainstream How impact investing can reach the mainstream
Read the article
Stage two calls for skills in balancing economic returns with social impact, as well as the stamina to commit to and measure the dual bottom line. And stage three requires expertise in scaling up, refining processes, developing talent, and systematic expansion.
Exhibit 2
Core impact investors play a critical role in seeding and de-risking social enterprises.
Core impact investors were the first investors in 56 percent of all deals (Exhibit 2) and in eight of the top ten microfinance institutions in India. Significantly, we found that this led to interest from conventional PE and VC funds, even as the business models of the underlying industries began to mature. Conventional PE and VC funds brought larger pools of capital, which accounted for about 70 percent of initial institutional funding by value.1 This is particularly important for capital-intensive and asset-heavy sectors such as clean energy and microfinance. Overall, mainstream funds contributed 48 percent of the capital across sectors (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 3
Overall, mainstream funds contributed nearly half the capital across sectors.
Club deals that combine impact investors and conventional PE and VC funds contributed 32 percent of capital and highlight the complementary role of both kinds of investors. As enterprises mature and impact investors remain involved, they are able to pull in funding from mainstream funds. Nonprofit organizations also play a complementary role by providing highly effective boots-on-the-ground capabilities. Nonprofits have typically been active longer than impact companies and have developed cost-effective mechanisms for delivering products and services and implementing business plans. Impact investors could be seen as strategic investors in nonprofits, which in turn play a role in scale-up, talent attraction, and the delivery of financial and operating leverage. One impact investor, for instance, built a sister organization to coach microfinance founders as they set out, and helped them build skills.
The social impact is significant
Impact investments touched the lives of 60 million to 80 million people in India. That’s equivalent to the population of France, a figure that is much greater than the proverbial drop in the ocean many imagine impact investment to be—more like a small sea. To be sure, India has vast populations of people in need. But then again, as social enterprises scale, so will their impact, reaching a critical number of at-risk people in smaller populations.
As investors reexamine their understanding of impact investing, the capital commitments they make are sure to expand. That will undoubtedly provide new challenges. But our research suggests that this nascent asset class can meet the financial challenges as well as achieve the social returns sought by providers of capital globally.
About the author(s)
Vivek Pandit is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Mumbai office, and Toshan Tamhane is a senior partner in the Jakarta office.
Article Actions
Share this article on LinkedIn Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Facebook Email this article Download this article
More on Private Equity & Principal Investors
Video
The changing landscape of social-impact investing
July 2017 – During the age of entrepreneurship, the gap between rich and poor grew rapidly. New business models directing capital in a more purposeful, moral way can help change that.
Article
From ‘why’ to ‘why not’: Sustainable investing as the new normal
October 2017 – More institutional investors recognize environmental, social, and governance factors as drivers of value. The key to investing effectively is to integrate these factors across the investment process.
Report - McKinsey Global Institute
Where companies with a long-term view outperform their peers
February 2017 – Our new Corporate Horizon Index provides systematic evidence that a long-term approach can lead to superior performance for revenue and earnings, investment, market capitalization, and job creation.
Article
How impact investing can reach the mainstream
November 2016 – Clear measurement standards, high-grade operations, specialized products, and more training for entrepreneurs can make impact investing a more influential practice.
Report - McKinsey Global Institute
India’s ascent: Five opportunities for growth and transformation
August 2016 – The country could create sustainable economic conditions in five ways, such as promoting acceptable living standards, improving the urban infrastructure, and unlocking the potential of women.
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McKinsey&Company
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Thursday, 1 March 2018
McKinsey & Company/Bernow, Klempner, & Magnin: From ‘why’ to ‘why not’: Sustainable investing as the new normal
McKinsey & Company Home
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Article - October 2017
From ‘why’ to ‘why not’: Sustainable investing as the new normal
By Sara Bernow, Bryce Klempner, and Clarisse Magnin
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More institutional investors recognize environmental, social, and governance factors as drivers of value. The key to investing effectively is to integrate these factors across the investment process.
Sustainable investing has come a long way. More than one-quarter of assets under management globally are now being invested according to the premise that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors can materially affect a company’s performance and market value. The institutional investors that practice sustainable investing now include some of the world’s largest, such as the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), and the Dutch pension fund ABP.
The techniques used in sustainable investing have advanced as well. While early ethics-based approaches such as negative screening remain relevant today, other strategies have since developed. These newer strategies typically put less emphasis on ethical concerns and are designed instead to achieve a conventional investment aim: maximizing risk-adjusted returns. Many institutional investors, particularly in Europe and North America, have now adopted approaches that consider ESG factors in portfolio selection and management. Others have held back, however. One common reason is that they believe sustainable investing ordinarily produces lower returns than conventional strategies, despite research findings to the contrary.
Among institutional investors who have embraced sustainable investing, some have room to improve their practices. Certain investors—even large, sophisticated ones—integrate ESG factors into their investment processes using techniques that are less rigorous and systematic than those they use for other investment factors. When investors bring ESG factors into investment decisions without relying on time-tested standard practices, their results can be compromised.
To help investors capitalize on opportunities in sustainable investing, this article offers insights on how to integrate ESG factors with the investment process—from defining the objectives and approach for an investment strategy, through developing the tools and organizational resources required to manage investments, to managing performance and reporting outcomes to stakeholders. It is based on more than 100 interviews we conducted with CEOs, chief investment officers, ESG leaders, investment managers, and others at a range of investment funds, about their experiences with sustainable investing: how they got started, what practices they follow, what challenges they encountered, how they resolved them, and how they have enhanced their sustainable investing approaches over time.
Sustainable investing takes off and pays off
Once a niche practice, sustainable investing has become a large and fast-growing major market segment. According to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, at the start of 2016, sustainable investments constituted 26 percent of assets that are professionally managed in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and the United States—$22.89 trillion in total. Four years earlier, they were 21.5 percent of assets.
The most widely applied sustainable investment strategy globally, used for two-thirds of sustainable investments, is negative screening, which involves excluding sectors, companies, or practices from investment portfolios based on ESG criteria. But ESG integration, which is the systematic and explicit inclusion of ESG factors in financial analysis, has been growing at 17 percent per year. This technique is now used with nearly half of sustainable investments.
The scale of the sustainable investing market differs greatly from region to region. European asset managers have the highest proportion of sustainable investments (52.6 percent at the beginning of 2016), followed by Australia and New Zealand (50.6 percent) and Canada (37.8 percent). Sustainable investing is less prevalent in the United States (21.6 percent), Japan (3.4 percent), and Asian countries other than Japan (0.8 percent), but the gap is narrowing. From 2014 to 2016, the volume of sustainably managed assets grew significantly faster outside Europe than it did in Europe.1
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Recent years have also seen some of the world’s largest institutional investors expand their sustainability efforts. Japan’s GPIF, the largest pension fund in the world with $1.1 trillion in assets, announced in July 2017 that it had selected three ESG indexes for its passive investments in Japanese equities. In December 2015, the Dutch pension fund ABP, which is the second largest in Europe, declared two ESG-related goals: to reduce the carbon-emissions footprint of its equity portfolio by 25 percent from 2015 to 2020, and to invest €5 billion in renewable energy by 2020.
Our interviews with institutional investors reveal a wide range of reasons they pursue sustainable investing. The three most common motivations are as follows:
Enhancing returns. Sustainable investing appears to have a positive effect, if any, on returns. Researchers continue to explore the relationships between ESG performance and corporate financial performance, and between ESG investment strategies and investment returns. Several studies have shown that sustainable investing and superior investment returns are positively correlated. Other studies have shown no correlation. Recent comprehensive research (based on more than 2,000 studies over the last four decades) demonstrates sustainable investing is uncorrelated with poor returns.2 For many investors, the likelihood that sustainable investing produces market-rate returns as effectively as other investment approaches has provided convincing grounds to pursue sustainable investment strategies—particularly in light of the other motivations described below.
Strengthening risk management. Institutional investors increasingly observe that risks related to ESG issues can have a measurable effect on a company’s market value, as well as its reputation. Companies have seen their revenues and profits decline, for instance, after worker safety incidents, waste or pollution spills, weather-related supply-chain disruptions, and other ESG-related incidents have come to light. ESG issues have harmed some brands, which can account for much of a company’s market value. Investors have also raised questions about whether companies are positioned to succeed in the face of risks stemming from long-term trends such as climate change and water scarcity.
Aligning strategies with the priorities of beneficiaries and stakeholders. Demand from fund beneficiaries and other stakeholders has driven some institutional investors to develop sustainable investing strategies. This demand has followed greater public attention to the global sustainability agenda. Sustainable investing strategies seem to have particular appeal among younger generations: some two-thirds of high-net-worth millennials surveyed in the United States agreed with the statement, “My investment decisions are a way to express my social, political, or environmental values.” More than one-third of high-net-worth baby boomers expressed the same belief—a noteworthy proportion, given that baby boomers are a major constituency for institutional investors.3 Some investors wish to “do good” for society by providing capital to companies with favorable ESG features (without compromising risk-adjusted returns).
As more investors consider ESG factors, they are likely to encounter certain common challenges. There are some lessons they should keep in mind on how to define their approaches and maximize the benefits of sustainable investing.
How leading investors integrate sustainability
In reviewing the experiences of leading institutions, one theme stands out: sustainable investing is more effective when its core activities are integrated into existing processes, rather than carried out in parallel. Deep integration is readily achievable because the disciplines of sustainable investing are variations on typical investment approaches. Below, we explore how elements of sustainable investing can be integrated with investors’ existing capabilities across six important dimensions (Exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1
Leading institutions apply sustainable investing practices across six dimensions of their investment process and operations.
Linking sustainable investing to the mandate
To succeed, sustainable investment strategies must derive from an institution’s overall mandate. Yet investment mandates do not always call for sustainable strategies. The following questions can help investors interpret their mandates with respect to ESG issues and define targets for their sustainable investment strategies:
Does the investment mandate demand sustainability? If so, what factors are emphasized? Some investment mandates include ESG considerations or even specific ESG objectives. For example, the management objectives of Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s GPFG, call for the bank to “integrate its responsible management efforts into the management of the GPFG” and note that “a good long-term return is considered dependent on sustainable development in economic, environmental, and social terms, as well as well-functioning, legitimate and efficient markets.”
How can the directives of a more general mandate help shape a sustainable strategy? Many funds have a mandate similar to that of a large Canadian pension fund: to “maximize returns without undue risk of loss.” A focus on value creation provides the basis for a strategy that accounts for long-term ESG trends by, for example, avoiding investments in companies or sectors exposed to material sustainability risks.
How will the success of the sustainable investment strategy be judged? Leading institutional investors define and track progress against clear metrics and targets for their sustainable strategies. Some targets have to do with their own activities: for example, the proportion of their portfolio managed with respect to ESG factors. (In some asset classes such as government bonds, sustainable practices are less developed and may thus take more time to apply than in asset classes such as public equities.) Others might consist of goals for the ESG performance of portfolio companies, such as reductions in carbon emissions or the ratios between executive pay and worker pay.
Defining the sustainable investment strategy
A sustainable investment strategy consists of building blocks familiar to institutional investors: a balance between risk and return and a thesis about which factors strongly influence corporate financial performance. The following questions can help investors define these elements:
Are ESG factors more important for risk management or value creation? The balance between managing risks and producing superior returns will help determine the sustainable investing strategy. If the mandate focuses on risk management, then the strategy might be designed to exclude companies, sectors, or geographies that investors see as particularly risky with respect to ESG factors, or to engage in dialogue with corporate managers about how to mitigate ESG risks. If value creation is the focus, on the other hand, investors might overweight their portfolios with companies or sectors that exhibit strong performance on ESG-related factors they believe are linked to value creation.
What ESG factors are material? At first glance, this question might seem basic. Investors ordinarily look closely at factors they consider material and devote less attention to other ones. (Not surprisingly, research has shown that companies that focus on material ESG issues produce better financial performance than those that look at all ESG issues.) Determining which ESG factors matter, though, isn’t always easy. Some efforts to identify material factors are under way. In the United States, for instance, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has developed the leading approach for identifying the unique ESG factors that are material in each sector. Investors may wish to conduct additional analysis to assess materiality for their own portfolios. The selection of material factors is often influenced to some extent by exposure to asset classes, geographies, and specific companies. For example, governance factors tend to be especially important for private equity investments, since these investments are typically characterized by large ownership shares and limited regulatory oversight.
Selecting tools for sustainable portfolio construction and management
Most institutional investors that integrate ESG factors in their strategies use at least one of three main techniques for portfolio construction and management: negative screening, positive screening, and proactive engagement (Exhibit 2). Once an investor has set priorities, it can select these techniques accordingly, using the following questions as a guide:
Exhibit 2
Institutional investors use at least one of three techniques to integrate ESG factors in portfolio construction and management.
Is risk management a focus? Negative screening is essential for investors that wish to constrain risk. It entails excluding companies (or entire sectors or geographies) from a portfolio based on their performance with respect to ESG factors. Negative screening was the basis for many of the earliest sustainable investing strategies. The availability of ESG performance data (for example, carbon emissions) now allows investors to apply more nuanced and sophisticated screens, filtering out companies that do not meet their standards or are below industry averages for particular ESG factors.
Is value creation a focus? Performance-focused investors can use negative screening to eliminate companies that may be less likely to outperform in the long run. They can also practice positive screening, by integrating the financial implications of ESG performance in fundamental analysis. With this approach, many of the same research and analysis activities that investors perform to choose high-performing assets are extended to cover material ESG factors. In this way, investors can seek out assets with outstanding ESG performance or sustainability-related business priorities (such as high energy efficiency). For example, the Third Swedish National Pension Fund (AP3) more than doubled its investments in green bonds during 2016 to lower the fund’s carbon footprint, on the grounds that a more sustainable portfolio can improve both the return and the risk profile of the fund.
Does the investor engage with management teams? Some institutional investors try to improve the performance of portfolio companies by taking board seats or engaging in dialogue with management. This approach can also be helpful in sustainable investing strategies: an institutional investor might choose to acquire a stake in a company with subpar ESG performance, then engage with its management about potential improvements. If an institutional investor ordinarily takes board seats or engages management teams, then it might consider adding sustainability issues to its agenda. Some investors also take part in external collaborations, such as Eumedion in the Netherlands, that collectively engage companies in dialogues on sustainability issues and pool shareholder voting rights to influence management decisions.
Developing sustainable investment teams
A few leading investors embed ESG specialists within their investment teams, though some opt for other arrangements. The following three questions can help institutional investors fit their ESG-focused staff and resources into their existing operations:
What expertise is needed to carry out the sustainable investing strategy?The factors and techniques an investor chooses will determine what expertise is required. Investors that emphasize environmental performance, for instance, will need specialists in relevant environmental topics and management practices. Those that actively engage with management teams may need specialists with executive experience. Companies that rely on screening techniques will likely benefit from expertise in quantitative analysis.
How should an investor obtain ESG expertise? In-house ESG teams range from one or two full-time staff members to 15 or more, depending on portfolio size and approach to sustainable investing. Some investors may not need full-time ESG staff at all. Commercial databases offer good-quality information about companies’ ESG performance, and external advisors can provide targeted support. In addition, many institutional investors take part in external networks such as the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition, which support investors in incorporating ESG factors in their investment decisions. Leading investors also continuously build the ESG capabilities of their portfolio managers.
Sustaining_sustainability_1536x1536_200 offset_Standard Sustaining sustainability: What institutional investors should do next on ESG
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Where should ESG specialists fit into the organization? Some investors put their ESG specialists outside the investment team (for example, within a communications group). Leading investors typically embed ESG experts within their investment teams, with a head of ESG who reports to the chief investment officer. ESG specialists then provide ongoing support to portfolio managers. Some funds have made it a priority to hire ESG specialists with strong investment backgrounds. For example, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board hired a senior investment professional as its head of ESG. Other funds have chosen not to have dedicated ESG specialists, but to assign responsibility for related issues to ESG-trained portfolio managers. At one Scandinavian investor, portfolio managers must fully account for all drivers of risk and return, including those related to ESG factors.
Monitoring the performance of investment managers
Whether institutional investors use internal or external managers to oversee their portfolios, they must regularly review managers’ performance. Before hiring external managers, they also conduct thorough due diligence. Our interviews suggest that institutions with sophisticated approaches to sustainable investing have made ESG considerations an integral part of their performance-management processes. The following two questions can help investors devise effective means of monitoring performance:
How can we ensure external managers conform to our sustainable investing strategy? Leading funds have integrated ESG elements into their due diligence processes for external managers. The United Nations PRI has developed an ESG-focused questionnaire for this purpose, and some investors have created their own ESG scorecards. Side letters, which augment the terms of a contract, can be used to specify ESG performance standards for an external manager. Once an external manager has been hired, leading investors evaluate their ESG performance as part of their semiannual or annual performance reviews. The Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2), for example, developed an ESG assessment tool for reviewing external private equity managers. Some leading investors have a continuous dialogue with their external managers, through which potential ESG issues can be flagged and discussed.
How can we ensure our in-house investment team adheres to the sustainable strategy? Leading funds also make ESG considerations part of their processes for managing the performance of in-house portfolio managers. Some funds have tools for checking whether portfolio managers have complied with ESG requirements and, in some cases, whether the ESG performance of their portfolios meets certain standards or contributes to the investor’s overall ESG targets. A few investors have also begun experimenting with linking managers’ ESG performance to their compensation.
Reporting on sustainable investing practices and performance
Leading institutional investors reinforce their commitment to sustainable investment by disclosing performance and describing their management practices. The most advanced provide detailed descriptions of how they are enacting their sustainable investment strategies, along with quantitative measures of their performance relative to targets. The following questions can help when it comes to shaping effective approaches to external reporting:
What is the goal of reporting on ESG performance? Investors should define what they hope to accomplish via external reporting and disclosure. Government pensions, for example, may have to fulfill public-policy requirements. Other institutions may wish to demonstrate how they meet beneficiaries’ expectations, or use reporting as a means of holding portfolio companies accountable to drive change. This technique is particularly relevant to proactive engagement: investors can exert influence on portfolio companies by describing the performance gaps they have identified and the improvements that companies are making.
What information should be disclosed? Investors generally have wide discretion on what to disclose about their sustainable investment approach: strategies, companies excluded, ESG performance measures, and accounts of management dialogues, to name a few. Over the past few years, disclosures have become more detailed in areas like policies, targets and outcomes, focus areas, and specific initiatives. For example, the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) issues disclosures on all of these topics, along with a list of excluded companies and an assessment of the direct environmental impact of the fund’s operations.
Disclosing different kinds of ESG information serves different purposes. To fulfill public-policy requirements and show that practices meet beneficiaries’ expectations, some investors disclose how policies and strategies are integrated in the investment process, measureable ESG targets and outcomes, and data on shareholder votes or company dialogues. To encourage portfolio companies to strengthen ESG performance, disclosing information about high-priority ESG factors, company dialogues, and exclusion lists may be helpful.
What’s next
Embedding sustainable investment practices into investment processes is a long-term endeavor, by which most investors gradually adopt more sophisticated techniques. The practices described above, already in wide use, can help investors develop or refine sustainable investing strategies. It is also worth considering the following approaches, which are still evolving among investors at the front of the field:
Assessing the entire portfolio’s ESG risk exposure. A few funds have begun to systematically assess how their entire portfolios are exposed to material ESG risks (notably, climate change and energy consumption). Such a broad review requires significant staff time, resources, and capabilities. It also means developing a view on the long-term development of ESG-related factors and related market forces (for example, sales of electric vehicles and movements in energy prices) and their impact on the financial performance and valuations of holdings. In addition, advanced investors are developing dashboards of key indicators to watch, with trigger points that call for mitigating actions to manage risks effectively. Recent efforts to establish industry-wide standards for measuring a carbon footprint have resulted in progress, but an established set of metrics across most other sustainability topics has yet to be developed.
Using ESG triggers to find new investment opportunities. If assessing a whole portfolio with regard to ESG risks is one side of a coin, then seeking investment opportunities based on ESG factors is the other side. As with assessing risk exposure, institutional investors will need a point of view about ESG-related trends and their long-term effects on asset prices. One way to develop a thesis is to identify the most significant trends and the sectors they influence (for example, asking what opportunities will be created by the widespread shift toward renewable energy).
Integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 SDGs were developed to “end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.” Several European funds are exploring ways to link their sustainable investing strategies to the SDGs. Early approaches involve prioritizing certain SDGs and planning investment strategies to improve corporate performance in those areas. For example, in July 2017, the Dutch pension funds APG and PGGM jointly published the Sustainable Development Investments Taxonomies, with an assessment of the investment possibilities associated with each of the SDGs. AP2 also publishes examples of how its investments contribute to the SDGs. This creates transparency on how the institutional-investor community can be a catalyst for change for a more sustainable society, addressing some of the prioritized challenges of humankind.
The sustainable investing market has grown significantly as demand for sustainable investment strategies has surged and as evidence has accumulated about the benefits of investing with ESG factors in mind. Some of the world’s leading institutional investors are at the forefront of adopting sustainable investing strategies. Most large funds are seeking to develop their sustainable strategies and practices, regardless of starting point. While some are struggling to define their approach and to make good use of ESG-related information and insights, our interviews with institutional investors make clear that this doesn’t have to be the case. The methods that institutions already use to select and manage portfolios are highly compatible with sustainable strategies, and close integration can have significant benefits for institutional investors and beneficiaries alike.
About the author(s)
Sara Bernow is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Stockholm office, Bryce Klempner is a partner in the Boston office, and Clarisse Magnin is a senior partner in the Paris office.
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Private Equity & Principal Investors
Article - October 2017
From ‘why’ to ‘why not’: Sustainable investing as the new normal
By Sara Bernow, Bryce Klempner, and Clarisse Magnin
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More institutional investors recognize environmental, social, and governance factors as drivers of value. The key to investing effectively is to integrate these factors across the investment process.
Sustainable investing has come a long way. More than one-quarter of assets under management globally are now being invested according to the premise that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors can materially affect a company’s performance and market value. The institutional investors that practice sustainable investing now include some of the world’s largest, such as the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), and the Dutch pension fund ABP.
The techniques used in sustainable investing have advanced as well. While early ethics-based approaches such as negative screening remain relevant today, other strategies have since developed. These newer strategies typically put less emphasis on ethical concerns and are designed instead to achieve a conventional investment aim: maximizing risk-adjusted returns. Many institutional investors, particularly in Europe and North America, have now adopted approaches that consider ESG factors in portfolio selection and management. Others have held back, however. One common reason is that they believe sustainable investing ordinarily produces lower returns than conventional strategies, despite research findings to the contrary.
Among institutional investors who have embraced sustainable investing, some have room to improve their practices. Certain investors—even large, sophisticated ones—integrate ESG factors into their investment processes using techniques that are less rigorous and systematic than those they use for other investment factors. When investors bring ESG factors into investment decisions without relying on time-tested standard practices, their results can be compromised.
To help investors capitalize on opportunities in sustainable investing, this article offers insights on how to integrate ESG factors with the investment process—from defining the objectives and approach for an investment strategy, through developing the tools and organizational resources required to manage investments, to managing performance and reporting outcomes to stakeholders. It is based on more than 100 interviews we conducted with CEOs, chief investment officers, ESG leaders, investment managers, and others at a range of investment funds, about their experiences with sustainable investing: how they got started, what practices they follow, what challenges they encountered, how they resolved them, and how they have enhanced their sustainable investing approaches over time.
Sustainable investing takes off and pays off
Once a niche practice, sustainable investing has become a large and fast-growing major market segment. According to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, at the start of 2016, sustainable investments constituted 26 percent of assets that are professionally managed in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and the United States—$22.89 trillion in total. Four years earlier, they were 21.5 percent of assets.
The most widely applied sustainable investment strategy globally, used for two-thirds of sustainable investments, is negative screening, which involves excluding sectors, companies, or practices from investment portfolios based on ESG criteria. But ESG integration, which is the systematic and explicit inclusion of ESG factors in financial analysis, has been growing at 17 percent per year. This technique is now used with nearly half of sustainable investments.
The scale of the sustainable investing market differs greatly from region to region. European asset managers have the highest proportion of sustainable investments (52.6 percent at the beginning of 2016), followed by Australia and New Zealand (50.6 percent) and Canada (37.8 percent). Sustainable investing is less prevalent in the United States (21.6 percent), Japan (3.4 percent), and Asian countries other than Japan (0.8 percent), but the gap is narrowing. From 2014 to 2016, the volume of sustainably managed assets grew significantly faster outside Europe than it did in Europe.1
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Recent years have also seen some of the world’s largest institutional investors expand their sustainability efforts. Japan’s GPIF, the largest pension fund in the world with $1.1 trillion in assets, announced in July 2017 that it had selected three ESG indexes for its passive investments in Japanese equities. In December 2015, the Dutch pension fund ABP, which is the second largest in Europe, declared two ESG-related goals: to reduce the carbon-emissions footprint of its equity portfolio by 25 percent from 2015 to 2020, and to invest €5 billion in renewable energy by 2020.
Our interviews with institutional investors reveal a wide range of reasons they pursue sustainable investing. The three most common motivations are as follows:
Enhancing returns. Sustainable investing appears to have a positive effect, if any, on returns. Researchers continue to explore the relationships between ESG performance and corporate financial performance, and between ESG investment strategies and investment returns. Several studies have shown that sustainable investing and superior investment returns are positively correlated. Other studies have shown no correlation. Recent comprehensive research (based on more than 2,000 studies over the last four decades) demonstrates sustainable investing is uncorrelated with poor returns.2 For many investors, the likelihood that sustainable investing produces market-rate returns as effectively as other investment approaches has provided convincing grounds to pursue sustainable investment strategies—particularly in light of the other motivations described below.
Strengthening risk management. Institutional investors increasingly observe that risks related to ESG issues can have a measurable effect on a company’s market value, as well as its reputation. Companies have seen their revenues and profits decline, for instance, after worker safety incidents, waste or pollution spills, weather-related supply-chain disruptions, and other ESG-related incidents have come to light. ESG issues have harmed some brands, which can account for much of a company’s market value. Investors have also raised questions about whether companies are positioned to succeed in the face of risks stemming from long-term trends such as climate change and water scarcity.
Aligning strategies with the priorities of beneficiaries and stakeholders. Demand from fund beneficiaries and other stakeholders has driven some institutional investors to develop sustainable investing strategies. This demand has followed greater public attention to the global sustainability agenda. Sustainable investing strategies seem to have particular appeal among younger generations: some two-thirds of high-net-worth millennials surveyed in the United States agreed with the statement, “My investment decisions are a way to express my social, political, or environmental values.” More than one-third of high-net-worth baby boomers expressed the same belief—a noteworthy proportion, given that baby boomers are a major constituency for institutional investors.3 Some investors wish to “do good” for society by providing capital to companies with favorable ESG features (without compromising risk-adjusted returns).
As more investors consider ESG factors, they are likely to encounter certain common challenges. There are some lessons they should keep in mind on how to define their approaches and maximize the benefits of sustainable investing.
How leading investors integrate sustainability
In reviewing the experiences of leading institutions, one theme stands out: sustainable investing is more effective when its core activities are integrated into existing processes, rather than carried out in parallel. Deep integration is readily achievable because the disciplines of sustainable investing are variations on typical investment approaches. Below, we explore how elements of sustainable investing can be integrated with investors’ existing capabilities across six important dimensions (Exhibit 1).
Exhibit 1
Leading institutions apply sustainable investing practices across six dimensions of their investment process and operations.
Linking sustainable investing to the mandate
To succeed, sustainable investment strategies must derive from an institution’s overall mandate. Yet investment mandates do not always call for sustainable strategies. The following questions can help investors interpret their mandates with respect to ESG issues and define targets for their sustainable investment strategies:
Does the investment mandate demand sustainability? If so, what factors are emphasized? Some investment mandates include ESG considerations or even specific ESG objectives. For example, the management objectives of Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s GPFG, call for the bank to “integrate its responsible management efforts into the management of the GPFG” and note that “a good long-term return is considered dependent on sustainable development in economic, environmental, and social terms, as well as well-functioning, legitimate and efficient markets.”
How can the directives of a more general mandate help shape a sustainable strategy? Many funds have a mandate similar to that of a large Canadian pension fund: to “maximize returns without undue risk of loss.” A focus on value creation provides the basis for a strategy that accounts for long-term ESG trends by, for example, avoiding investments in companies or sectors exposed to material sustainability risks.
How will the success of the sustainable investment strategy be judged? Leading institutional investors define and track progress against clear metrics and targets for their sustainable strategies. Some targets have to do with their own activities: for example, the proportion of their portfolio managed with respect to ESG factors. (In some asset classes such as government bonds, sustainable practices are less developed and may thus take more time to apply than in asset classes such as public equities.) Others might consist of goals for the ESG performance of portfolio companies, such as reductions in carbon emissions or the ratios between executive pay and worker pay.
Defining the sustainable investment strategy
A sustainable investment strategy consists of building blocks familiar to institutional investors: a balance between risk and return and a thesis about which factors strongly influence corporate financial performance. The following questions can help investors define these elements:
Are ESG factors more important for risk management or value creation? The balance between managing risks and producing superior returns will help determine the sustainable investing strategy. If the mandate focuses on risk management, then the strategy might be designed to exclude companies, sectors, or geographies that investors see as particularly risky with respect to ESG factors, or to engage in dialogue with corporate managers about how to mitigate ESG risks. If value creation is the focus, on the other hand, investors might overweight their portfolios with companies or sectors that exhibit strong performance on ESG-related factors they believe are linked to value creation.
What ESG factors are material? At first glance, this question might seem basic. Investors ordinarily look closely at factors they consider material and devote less attention to other ones. (Not surprisingly, research has shown that companies that focus on material ESG issues produce better financial performance than those that look at all ESG issues.) Determining which ESG factors matter, though, isn’t always easy. Some efforts to identify material factors are under way. In the United States, for instance, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has developed the leading approach for identifying the unique ESG factors that are material in each sector. Investors may wish to conduct additional analysis to assess materiality for their own portfolios. The selection of material factors is often influenced to some extent by exposure to asset classes, geographies, and specific companies. For example, governance factors tend to be especially important for private equity investments, since these investments are typically characterized by large ownership shares and limited regulatory oversight.
Selecting tools for sustainable portfolio construction and management
Most institutional investors that integrate ESG factors in their strategies use at least one of three main techniques for portfolio construction and management: negative screening, positive screening, and proactive engagement (Exhibit 2). Once an investor has set priorities, it can select these techniques accordingly, using the following questions as a guide:
Exhibit 2
Institutional investors use at least one of three techniques to integrate ESG factors in portfolio construction and management.
Is risk management a focus? Negative screening is essential for investors that wish to constrain risk. It entails excluding companies (or entire sectors or geographies) from a portfolio based on their performance with respect to ESG factors. Negative screening was the basis for many of the earliest sustainable investing strategies. The availability of ESG performance data (for example, carbon emissions) now allows investors to apply more nuanced and sophisticated screens, filtering out companies that do not meet their standards or are below industry averages for particular ESG factors.
Is value creation a focus? Performance-focused investors can use negative screening to eliminate companies that may be less likely to outperform in the long run. They can also practice positive screening, by integrating the financial implications of ESG performance in fundamental analysis. With this approach, many of the same research and analysis activities that investors perform to choose high-performing assets are extended to cover material ESG factors. In this way, investors can seek out assets with outstanding ESG performance or sustainability-related business priorities (such as high energy efficiency). For example, the Third Swedish National Pension Fund (AP3) more than doubled its investments in green bonds during 2016 to lower the fund’s carbon footprint, on the grounds that a more sustainable portfolio can improve both the return and the risk profile of the fund.
Does the investor engage with management teams? Some institutional investors try to improve the performance of portfolio companies by taking board seats or engaging in dialogue with management. This approach can also be helpful in sustainable investing strategies: an institutional investor might choose to acquire a stake in a company with subpar ESG performance, then engage with its management about potential improvements. If an institutional investor ordinarily takes board seats or engages management teams, then it might consider adding sustainability issues to its agenda. Some investors also take part in external collaborations, such as Eumedion in the Netherlands, that collectively engage companies in dialogues on sustainability issues and pool shareholder voting rights to influence management decisions.
Developing sustainable investment teams
A few leading investors embed ESG specialists within their investment teams, though some opt for other arrangements. The following three questions can help institutional investors fit their ESG-focused staff and resources into their existing operations:
What expertise is needed to carry out the sustainable investing strategy?The factors and techniques an investor chooses will determine what expertise is required. Investors that emphasize environmental performance, for instance, will need specialists in relevant environmental topics and management practices. Those that actively engage with management teams may need specialists with executive experience. Companies that rely on screening techniques will likely benefit from expertise in quantitative analysis.
How should an investor obtain ESG expertise? In-house ESG teams range from one or two full-time staff members to 15 or more, depending on portfolio size and approach to sustainable investing. Some investors may not need full-time ESG staff at all. Commercial databases offer good-quality information about companies’ ESG performance, and external advisors can provide targeted support. In addition, many institutional investors take part in external networks such as the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition, which support investors in incorporating ESG factors in their investment decisions. Leading investors also continuously build the ESG capabilities of their portfolio managers.
Sustaining_sustainability_1536x1536_200 offset_Standard Sustaining sustainability: What institutional investors should do next on ESG
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Where should ESG specialists fit into the organization? Some investors put their ESG specialists outside the investment team (for example, within a communications group). Leading investors typically embed ESG experts within their investment teams, with a head of ESG who reports to the chief investment officer. ESG specialists then provide ongoing support to portfolio managers. Some funds have made it a priority to hire ESG specialists with strong investment backgrounds. For example, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board hired a senior investment professional as its head of ESG. Other funds have chosen not to have dedicated ESG specialists, but to assign responsibility for related issues to ESG-trained portfolio managers. At one Scandinavian investor, portfolio managers must fully account for all drivers of risk and return, including those related to ESG factors.
Monitoring the performance of investment managers
Whether institutional investors use internal or external managers to oversee their portfolios, they must regularly review managers’ performance. Before hiring external managers, they also conduct thorough due diligence. Our interviews suggest that institutions with sophisticated approaches to sustainable investing have made ESG considerations an integral part of their performance-management processes. The following two questions can help investors devise effective means of monitoring performance:
How can we ensure external managers conform to our sustainable investing strategy? Leading funds have integrated ESG elements into their due diligence processes for external managers. The United Nations PRI has developed an ESG-focused questionnaire for this purpose, and some investors have created their own ESG scorecards. Side letters, which augment the terms of a contract, can be used to specify ESG performance standards for an external manager. Once an external manager has been hired, leading investors evaluate their ESG performance as part of their semiannual or annual performance reviews. The Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2), for example, developed an ESG assessment tool for reviewing external private equity managers. Some leading investors have a continuous dialogue with their external managers, through which potential ESG issues can be flagged and discussed.
How can we ensure our in-house investment team adheres to the sustainable strategy? Leading funds also make ESG considerations part of their processes for managing the performance of in-house portfolio managers. Some funds have tools for checking whether portfolio managers have complied with ESG requirements and, in some cases, whether the ESG performance of their portfolios meets certain standards or contributes to the investor’s overall ESG targets. A few investors have also begun experimenting with linking managers’ ESG performance to their compensation.
Reporting on sustainable investing practices and performance
Leading institutional investors reinforce their commitment to sustainable investment by disclosing performance and describing their management practices. The most advanced provide detailed descriptions of how they are enacting their sustainable investment strategies, along with quantitative measures of their performance relative to targets. The following questions can help when it comes to shaping effective approaches to external reporting:
What is the goal of reporting on ESG performance? Investors should define what they hope to accomplish via external reporting and disclosure. Government pensions, for example, may have to fulfill public-policy requirements. Other institutions may wish to demonstrate how they meet beneficiaries’ expectations, or use reporting as a means of holding portfolio companies accountable to drive change. This technique is particularly relevant to proactive engagement: investors can exert influence on portfolio companies by describing the performance gaps they have identified and the improvements that companies are making.
What information should be disclosed? Investors generally have wide discretion on what to disclose about their sustainable investment approach: strategies, companies excluded, ESG performance measures, and accounts of management dialogues, to name a few. Over the past few years, disclosures have become more detailed in areas like policies, targets and outcomes, focus areas, and specific initiatives. For example, the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) issues disclosures on all of these topics, along with a list of excluded companies and an assessment of the direct environmental impact of the fund’s operations.
Disclosing different kinds of ESG information serves different purposes. To fulfill public-policy requirements and show that practices meet beneficiaries’ expectations, some investors disclose how policies and strategies are integrated in the investment process, measureable ESG targets and outcomes, and data on shareholder votes or company dialogues. To encourage portfolio companies to strengthen ESG performance, disclosing information about high-priority ESG factors, company dialogues, and exclusion lists may be helpful.
What’s next
Embedding sustainable investment practices into investment processes is a long-term endeavor, by which most investors gradually adopt more sophisticated techniques. The practices described above, already in wide use, can help investors develop or refine sustainable investing strategies. It is also worth considering the following approaches, which are still evolving among investors at the front of the field:
Assessing the entire portfolio’s ESG risk exposure. A few funds have begun to systematically assess how their entire portfolios are exposed to material ESG risks (notably, climate change and energy consumption). Such a broad review requires significant staff time, resources, and capabilities. It also means developing a view on the long-term development of ESG-related factors and related market forces (for example, sales of electric vehicles and movements in energy prices) and their impact on the financial performance and valuations of holdings. In addition, advanced investors are developing dashboards of key indicators to watch, with trigger points that call for mitigating actions to manage risks effectively. Recent efforts to establish industry-wide standards for measuring a carbon footprint have resulted in progress, but an established set of metrics across most other sustainability topics has yet to be developed.
Using ESG triggers to find new investment opportunities. If assessing a whole portfolio with regard to ESG risks is one side of a coin, then seeking investment opportunities based on ESG factors is the other side. As with assessing risk exposure, institutional investors will need a point of view about ESG-related trends and their long-term effects on asset prices. One way to develop a thesis is to identify the most significant trends and the sectors they influence (for example, asking what opportunities will be created by the widespread shift toward renewable energy).
Integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 SDGs were developed to “end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.” Several European funds are exploring ways to link their sustainable investing strategies to the SDGs. Early approaches involve prioritizing certain SDGs and planning investment strategies to improve corporate performance in those areas. For example, in July 2017, the Dutch pension funds APG and PGGM jointly published the Sustainable Development Investments Taxonomies, with an assessment of the investment possibilities associated with each of the SDGs. AP2 also publishes examples of how its investments contribute to the SDGs. This creates transparency on how the institutional-investor community can be a catalyst for change for a more sustainable society, addressing some of the prioritized challenges of humankind.
The sustainable investing market has grown significantly as demand for sustainable investment strategies has surged and as evidence has accumulated about the benefits of investing with ESG factors in mind. Some of the world’s leading institutional investors are at the forefront of adopting sustainable investing strategies. Most large funds are seeking to develop their sustainable strategies and practices, regardless of starting point. While some are struggling to define their approach and to make good use of ESG-related information and insights, our interviews with institutional investors make clear that this doesn’t have to be the case. The methods that institutions already use to select and manage portfolios are highly compatible with sustainable strategies, and close integration can have significant benefits for institutional investors and beneficiaries alike.
About the author(s)
Sara Bernow is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Stockholm office, Bryce Klempner is a partner in the Boston office, and Clarisse Magnin is a senior partner in the Paris office.
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GE’s healthymagination Mother and Child Programme Graduates its Second Group of Social Entrepreneurs Addressing Maternal & Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
GE is committed to continue partnering with Social Entrepreneurs to support sustainable healthcare development especially through capacity building and skills transfer
NAIROBI, Kenya, March 1, 2018/ --
GE (www.GE.com) and Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship will graduate 11 social entrepreneurs who completed training and mentorship aimed at accelerating maternal and/or child health outcomes in Africa.
The programme culminates in an investor showcase event where the finalists will present their respective enterprises to an audience of potential investors.
GE’s healthymagination Mother and Child Programme today graduated its second cohort of social entrepreneurs who completed training and mentorship that is designed to scale impact, thereby improving maternal and child health outcomes in Africa.
The graduation of the second cohort builds on the success of the 1st group of entrepreneurs, all of whom have reported a notable impact of the programme on their businesses. One such entrepreneur is Dr. Steve Adudans whose HewaTele (www.HewaTele.org) has attracted over 2 Million USD in additional investment since completing the programme in March 2017. “The skills and practical knowledge we received has enabled us to transform our business model for greater impact. Thanks to the programme, we managed to secure investment from global development partners for the expansion of 2 additional oxygen plants which will increase access to affordable, safe and quality life-saving medical oxygen in Kenya” indicated Dr. Adudans.
“We are proud of the major strides that the first cohort of enterprises have made since they graduated, and are thrilled that a second stellar group of passionate entrepreneurs is now better equipped to expand their reach and save the lives of more mothers and children across the continent” said Robert Wells Executive Director, New Growth Markets, Business Innovations at GE. “GE is committed to continue partnering with Social Entrepreneurs to support sustainable healthcare development especially through capacity building and skills transfer” he added.
After a rigorous evaluation process, the social enterprises selected to feature in the second cohort of the healthymagination Mother and Child Programme attended a three-day, in-person workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa followed by a six-month online accelerator program that included weekly in-depth mentorship from Silicon Valley-based executives and local GE business leaders.
This approach is designed to assist entrepreneurs operating in the healthcare space to acquire business fundamentals that will help them build and grow their impact. The accelerator and mentorship programme culminates in an investor showcase event during which the finalists pitch their respective enterprises to an audience of potential investors and supporters.
Speaking at the graduation event, Pamela Roussos the Chief Innovation Officer at Miller Center stated, “We are delighted to graduate the second group of change agents who are now ready to scale their work and offer their communities a path to better, healthier lives. Addressing challenges in maternal health calls for sustained efforts and we will continue to leverage GE’s healthcare and information technology expertise combined with Miller Center’s capacity development portfolio to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in Africa”.
Launched in 2016 by GE in partnership with Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the programme set out to tackle maternal and child health by building the capacity of social enterprises operating in Africa with a view of improving outcomes for mothers and children on the continent which is in line with the company’s sustainability culture to make a meaningful difference in communities where it operates while improving productivity.
Below are the eleven social enterprises that have now completed the healthymagination Mother and Child Programme:
Afya Research Africa (http://AfyaResearch.org/index.php) (Kenya; led by Dr. Moses Ndiritu) - is a social enterprise that works with communities to set up and manage medical centers and develop medical technologies that tackle access, cost and quality issues associated with healthcare services in Kenya.
Cedars Diagnostics (Kenya; led by Payan Ouko) - is a social enterprise serving the urban poor by providing access to quality and affordable diagnostic healthcare. They provide access to medical equipment, expertise, training, and support to like-minded organizations that provide primary care to underserved communities.
doctHERs (www.doctHERs.com) (Pakistan; led by Dr. Asher Hasan) - is a novel, digital healthcare platform that connects female doctors to health consumers in real-time by leveraging online technology. The enterprise gives access to quality healthcare for underserved communities while providing employment for women doctors.
Liberian Energy Network (www.LightingLiberia.org) (Liberia; led by Richard P Fahey) - LEN is providing reliable, clean and inexpensive solar lighting to the people of Liberia. The enterprise serves schools, clinics and other key institutions.
Maternity Foundation (www.Maternity.dk) (Ethiopia; led by Anna Frellsen) - is a social enterprise that conducts clinical trainings of health care providers both pre-service and in-service with the aim of increasing the quantity and quality of skilled birth attendants.
MDaaS (www.MDaaSnigeria.com) (Nigeria: led by Oluwasoga Oni) - is a social enterprise that improves the affordability, accessibility and availability of hospital equipment by providing maintenance, repair and refurbishment services, and also financing/leasing services to hospitals in Nigeria.
MOBicure (www.OMOMIapp.com) (Nigeria; led by Dr. Emmanuel Owobu) - is a mobile health enterprise creating solutions that make use of mobile technology devices and tools such as phones, tablets, SMS, apps, Interactive Voice Recordings (IVRs) and videos to solve some of the most pressing healthcare problems facing Nigeria and other developing countries, especially with regards to maternal and child health.
Neopenda (www.Neopenda.com) (Uganda; Led by Sona Shah) - is a health tech startup and social enterprise creating healthcare solutions that give newborns in low-resource settings the healthy lives they deserve. They provide a simple, low-cost, low-power wearable device that continuously monitors newborn’s key vital signs.
Sevamob Ventures USA (https://Seva360.com) (India, South Africa, United States; led by Shelley Saxena) is a social enterprise that created an artificial intelligence-enabled healthcare platform to help patients manage their health and get access to relevant information and services and assist providers to offer better care, based on relevant data and electronic medical record.
Sisu Global Health (www.SisuGlobalHealth.com) (Kenya & Ghana;led by Carolyn Yarina) - is a social enterprise seeking to end healthcare disparities by developing medical technology that addresses critical needs in emerging markets. The first product to market is Hemafuse, an alternative to donor blood, it salvages, filters and recycles a patient's own blood.
SubQ Assist (www.IMohedas.com) (Ethiopia; led by Dr. Ibrahim Mohedas) - is a task-shifting device that makes subcutaneous contraceptive implants simple and safe to administer. The SubQ Assist acts like a template for a Community Healthcare Worker (CHW), controlling the skin and implant needle.
For a more in-depth review of each social enterprise, the 2018 Investment Profile guide for the GE healthymagination and Miller Center Mother and Child Programme is available for download at http://bit.ly/2BGIT0J.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GE.
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About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) (www.GE.com) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the “GE Store,” through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. For more information, visit: www.GE.com
About GE’s healthymagination commitment
GE’s healthymagination commitment is about better health for more people. We continuously develop and invest in innovations that deliver high-quality, more affordable healthcare to more people around the world. For more information about our healthymagination commitment, visit www.GEsustainability.com.
About Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship (www.SCU.edu/MillerCenter) is the largest and most successful university-based social enterprise accelerator in the world. Founded in 1997, Miller Center is one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University and is located in the heart of the world’s most entrepreneurial ecosystem. We leverage the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative ethos of Silicon Valley and underpin it with the Jesuit heritage of service to the poor and protection of the planet. To learn more about the Center or any of its social entrepreneurship programs, visit www.SCU.edu/MillerCenter.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University (www.SCU.edu), a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.’s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.SCU.edu.
SOURCE
GE
NAIROBI, Kenya, March 1, 2018/ --
GE (www.GE.com) and Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship will graduate 11 social entrepreneurs who completed training and mentorship aimed at accelerating maternal and/or child health outcomes in Africa.
The programme culminates in an investor showcase event where the finalists will present their respective enterprises to an audience of potential investors.
GE’s healthymagination Mother and Child Programme today graduated its second cohort of social entrepreneurs who completed training and mentorship that is designed to scale impact, thereby improving maternal and child health outcomes in Africa.
The graduation of the second cohort builds on the success of the 1st group of entrepreneurs, all of whom have reported a notable impact of the programme on their businesses. One such entrepreneur is Dr. Steve Adudans whose HewaTele (www.HewaTele.org) has attracted over 2 Million USD in additional investment since completing the programme in March 2017. “The skills and practical knowledge we received has enabled us to transform our business model for greater impact. Thanks to the programme, we managed to secure investment from global development partners for the expansion of 2 additional oxygen plants which will increase access to affordable, safe and quality life-saving medical oxygen in Kenya” indicated Dr. Adudans.
“We are proud of the major strides that the first cohort of enterprises have made since they graduated, and are thrilled that a second stellar group of passionate entrepreneurs is now better equipped to expand their reach and save the lives of more mothers and children across the continent” said Robert Wells Executive Director, New Growth Markets, Business Innovations at GE. “GE is committed to continue partnering with Social Entrepreneurs to support sustainable healthcare development especially through capacity building and skills transfer” he added.
After a rigorous evaluation process, the social enterprises selected to feature in the second cohort of the healthymagination Mother and Child Programme attended a three-day, in-person workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa followed by a six-month online accelerator program that included weekly in-depth mentorship from Silicon Valley-based executives and local GE business leaders.
This approach is designed to assist entrepreneurs operating in the healthcare space to acquire business fundamentals that will help them build and grow their impact. The accelerator and mentorship programme culminates in an investor showcase event during which the finalists pitch their respective enterprises to an audience of potential investors and supporters.
Speaking at the graduation event, Pamela Roussos the Chief Innovation Officer at Miller Center stated, “We are delighted to graduate the second group of change agents who are now ready to scale their work and offer their communities a path to better, healthier lives. Addressing challenges in maternal health calls for sustained efforts and we will continue to leverage GE’s healthcare and information technology expertise combined with Miller Center’s capacity development portfolio to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in Africa”.
Launched in 2016 by GE in partnership with Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the programme set out to tackle maternal and child health by building the capacity of social enterprises operating in Africa with a view of improving outcomes for mothers and children on the continent which is in line with the company’s sustainability culture to make a meaningful difference in communities where it operates while improving productivity.
Below are the eleven social enterprises that have now completed the healthymagination Mother and Child Programme:
Afya Research Africa (http://AfyaResearch.org/index.php) (Kenya; led by Dr. Moses Ndiritu) - is a social enterprise that works with communities to set up and manage medical centers and develop medical technologies that tackle access, cost and quality issues associated with healthcare services in Kenya.
Cedars Diagnostics (Kenya; led by Payan Ouko) - is a social enterprise serving the urban poor by providing access to quality and affordable diagnostic healthcare. They provide access to medical equipment, expertise, training, and support to like-minded organizations that provide primary care to underserved communities.
doctHERs (www.doctHERs.com) (Pakistan; led by Dr. Asher Hasan) - is a novel, digital healthcare platform that connects female doctors to health consumers in real-time by leveraging online technology. The enterprise gives access to quality healthcare for underserved communities while providing employment for women doctors.
Liberian Energy Network (www.LightingLiberia.org) (Liberia; led by Richard P Fahey) - LEN is providing reliable, clean and inexpensive solar lighting to the people of Liberia. The enterprise serves schools, clinics and other key institutions.
Maternity Foundation (www.Maternity.dk) (Ethiopia; led by Anna Frellsen) - is a social enterprise that conducts clinical trainings of health care providers both pre-service and in-service with the aim of increasing the quantity and quality of skilled birth attendants.
MDaaS (www.MDaaSnigeria.com) (Nigeria: led by Oluwasoga Oni) - is a social enterprise that improves the affordability, accessibility and availability of hospital equipment by providing maintenance, repair and refurbishment services, and also financing/leasing services to hospitals in Nigeria.
MOBicure (www.OMOMIapp.com) (Nigeria; led by Dr. Emmanuel Owobu) - is a mobile health enterprise creating solutions that make use of mobile technology devices and tools such as phones, tablets, SMS, apps, Interactive Voice Recordings (IVRs) and videos to solve some of the most pressing healthcare problems facing Nigeria and other developing countries, especially with regards to maternal and child health.
Neopenda (www.Neopenda.com) (Uganda; Led by Sona Shah) - is a health tech startup and social enterprise creating healthcare solutions that give newborns in low-resource settings the healthy lives they deserve. They provide a simple, low-cost, low-power wearable device that continuously monitors newborn’s key vital signs.
Sevamob Ventures USA (https://Seva360.com) (India, South Africa, United States; led by Shelley Saxena) is a social enterprise that created an artificial intelligence-enabled healthcare platform to help patients manage their health and get access to relevant information and services and assist providers to offer better care, based on relevant data and electronic medical record.
Sisu Global Health (www.SisuGlobalHealth.com) (Kenya & Ghana;led by Carolyn Yarina) - is a social enterprise seeking to end healthcare disparities by developing medical technology that addresses critical needs in emerging markets. The first product to market is Hemafuse, an alternative to donor blood, it salvages, filters and recycles a patient's own blood.
SubQ Assist (www.IMohedas.com) (Ethiopia; led by Dr. Ibrahim Mohedas) - is a task-shifting device that makes subcutaneous contraceptive implants simple and safe to administer. The SubQ Assist acts like a template for a Community Healthcare Worker (CHW), controlling the skin and implant needle.
For a more in-depth review of each social enterprise, the 2018 Investment Profile guide for the GE healthymagination and Miller Center Mother and Child Programme is available for download at http://bit.ly/2BGIT0J.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GE.
View multimedia content
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) (www.GE.com) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the “GE Store,” through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. For more information, visit: www.GE.com
About GE’s healthymagination commitment
GE’s healthymagination commitment is about better health for more people. We continuously develop and invest in innovations that deliver high-quality, more affordable healthcare to more people around the world. For more information about our healthymagination commitment, visit www.GEsustainability.com.
About Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship (www.SCU.edu/MillerCenter) is the largest and most successful university-based social enterprise accelerator in the world. Founded in 1997, Miller Center is one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University and is located in the heart of the world’s most entrepreneurial ecosystem. We leverage the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative ethos of Silicon Valley and underpin it with the Jesuit heritage of service to the poor and protection of the planet. To learn more about the Center or any of its social entrepreneurship programs, visit www.SCU.edu/MillerCenter.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University (www.SCU.edu), a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.’s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.SCU.edu.
SOURCE
GE
[NASA HQ News] California, Arizona Students to Speak with Astronauts on Space Station
March 01, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-039
California, Arizona Students to Speak with Astronauts on Space Station
Credits: NASA
Two astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station will talk live with students in Arizona and California on Friday, March 2. The separate Earth-to-space calls will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Students from H.L. Suverkrup Elementary School in Yuma, Arizona, will talk to Expedition 55 astronauts Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 10:30 a.m. EST. Media interested in attending the event should contact Trina Seigfried at 928-246-3565 or tseigfried@craneschools.org. The event will take place at 1590 S Ave.
At 12:15 p.m., Tingle and Kanai will get a call from students at Monta Loma Elementary School in Mountain View, California. To attend this event, media should contact Shelly Hausman at shausman@mvwsd.org or 650-796-8304. The event will take place at 60 Thompson Ave.
The students will have a unique opportunity to pose questions directly to astronauts about life aboard the space station, NASA’s deep space exploration plans, and doing science in space. They’re preparing for the event by studying the space station, astronaut biographies, and the current research and activities happening aboard the station. In addition, the Suverkrup students have added their names to NASA’s InSight Mars lander Names to Mars program and are preparing for a virtual field trip to the Red Planet.
These in-flight education downlinks are an integral component of NASA’s Year of Education on Station, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Astronauts living on the orbiting laboratory are able to participate in these educational calls, and communicate 24 hours a day with the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, through the agency Space Network’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.
Follow the astronauts on social media:
https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts
See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
-end-
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-039
California, Arizona Students to Speak with Astronauts on Space Station
Credits: NASA
Two astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station will talk live with students in Arizona and California on Friday, March 2. The separate Earth-to-space calls will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Students from H.L. Suverkrup Elementary School in Yuma, Arizona, will talk to Expedition 55 astronauts Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 10:30 a.m. EST. Media interested in attending the event should contact Trina Seigfried at 928-246-3565 or tseigfried@craneschools.org. The event will take place at 1590 S Ave.
At 12:15 p.m., Tingle and Kanai will get a call from students at Monta Loma Elementary School in Mountain View, California. To attend this event, media should contact Shelly Hausman at shausman@mvwsd.org or 650-796-8304. The event will take place at 60 Thompson Ave.
The students will have a unique opportunity to pose questions directly to astronauts about life aboard the space station, NASA’s deep space exploration plans, and doing science in space. They’re preparing for the event by studying the space station, astronaut biographies, and the current research and activities happening aboard the station. In addition, the Suverkrup students have added their names to NASA’s InSight Mars lander Names to Mars program and are preparing for a virtual field trip to the Red Planet.
These in-flight education downlinks are an integral component of NASA’s Year of Education on Station, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Astronauts living on the orbiting laboratory are able to participate in these educational calls, and communicate 24 hours a day with the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, through the agency Space Network’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.
Follow the astronauts on social media:
https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts
See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
-end-
Clickz.com/Brian Solis: Generation-C gives rise to the Age of Assistance
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Generation-C gives rise to the Age of Assistance
Beyond Millennials, Centennials or any age demographic for that matter, the consumer every brand needs to pay attention to the group I call “Generation-C.”
Author
Brian Solis
Date published
February 28, 2018
Categories
Strategy & Leadership
Millennials and the younger Centennials behind them are often the focus of attention (and blame) when it comes to brand disruption. It’s not uncommon to see headlines such as “Millennials are Killing [Insert Industry, Brand, Institution].”
Truth is that they’re not the sole culprit. Consumerism as a whole is evolving and many businesses are not upgrading or updating value propositions, processes or products. Beyond Millennials, Centennials or any age demographic for that matter, the consumer every brand needs to pay attention to the group I call “Generation-C.”
This ever-growing group of connected consumers interacts with brands differently and has a rising expectation for on-demand assistance. As Google puts it, these highly-connected, mobile-first consumers are giving rise to “the age of assistance.”
Unlike other Generational classifiers, Generation-C, where “C” represents “Connected,” is not organized by age. Instead, it’s comprised of digital consumers who share common (and evolving) intent, behaviors, preferences and aspirations. As a result of their connected lifestyle, they’re also increasingly curious, impatient and demanding as a result.
It’s no longer digital-first, it’s now a mobile-first world
Legacy brand playbooks are not only outdated, they’re missing the elements necessary to engage consumers in ways they value and desire. It’s not enough to be digital. Brands must now become mobile-first to meet the rising expectations of Gen-C.
Mobile has fundamentally altered the way people interact with brands. This affects how people search and consume content. Micro-moments have now become the standard for how consumers use their mobile devices in the moments that matter to know, go, do, and buy.
But now, they also expect more personal, seamless, immediate and assistive experiences. This gives rise to an age of assistance and the need for “adviser brands” to guide them.
To help develop a playbook for the age of assistance, Google assembled a revealing primer that sheds light on how consumers are seeking assistive brand engagement.
Generation-C is curious
There was once a time when curiosity “killed the cat.” Now it’s a way of life. Connected consumers are research-obsessed and will use their mobile device to research decisions whether they’re small or big. For example, the use of “best” in mobile searches is up 80 percent in the past two years.
And mobile search that reveal the extent to which consumers are seeking to be informed aren’t just limited to the “best” big ticket items. Searches for smaller, everyday items are also skyrocketing. Mobile searches for “best umbrellas,” for instance, is up over 140 percent. Queries for “best toothbrush” are up over 100 percent.
In some cases, connected consumers don’t know what to search, so they’ll search topics to give them ideas where to start and go. In the past two years, mobile searches for “_____ ideas” have grown over 55 percent. Mobile watchtime of YouTube videos with “idea” in the title have increased over 95 percent These explorations run the gamut according to Google, including:
Bathroom remodel ideas
Room decorating ideas
Graduation party ideas
Groomsmen gift ideas
On the other end of the “best” spectrum is the “worst.” Connected consumers are also curious to know if your brand or product are worth it.
Google learned that there are 1.5X more mobile searches ending with “to avoid” in the past two years, e.g.:
cooking oil brands to avoid
refrigerators to avoid
Mobile searches for “is ____ worth it” have also grown over 80% in the past two years.
Is life insurance worth it
Is organic milk worth it
Is an electric toothbrush worth it
Generation-C is demanding
With increased connectivity comes more information, which leads to empowerment and eventually leads consumers to become more demanding. Connected consumers expect brands to understand their intent and context and deliver personalized content in the right moment to guide them along their journey.
According to Google, mobile searches that include personal language such as “me and “I” are on the rise. Mobile searches that contain “___ for me” have grown over 60 percent in the last two years. Sample searches include:
What running shoes are best for me?
Best haircut for me
Which credit card is best for me?
Connected consumers are also expecting the Internet and online tribes to help them understand what they should do in specific instances. Mobile searches for “should I___” have grown 80 percent in the past two years. Examples include:
What should I do today?
How many credit cards should I have?
What should I make for dinner?
Inferring context is also becoming more and more common. For example, consumers are sharing less information about their location. In most searches regarding location, “near me” or specific locations that were once included are now gone. Now, consumers just expect for location details to be a given in the information that they find.
Generation-C is impatient
It used to be that patience was a virtue. Now it might be true for impatience. Connected consumers want things…now. They’re making decisions faster than ever before and they expect to act on those decisions immediately. Brands must now invest in assistive experiences to keep up with fast-moving consumers while also earning competitive advantages.
When connected consumers reach for their smartphone to research, Google learned that they do so to be more informed, prepared or productive. Consumers expect the right results in real time. For instance, Google shared the following mobile search trends:
Interest for ”open now” has jumped 300 percent.
“Same-day shipping” searches are up 120 percent.
“____ wait time” has grown 120% for restaurants, theme parks, and anything commonly associated with lines.
The age of assistance is upon us. While it may see like yet another front to further extend already limited resources, it represents an opportunity for marketing innovation and growth.
Like Generation-C, marketers too have access to modern tools and capabilities. Ultimately, connected, mobile consumers seek assistance. That means adviser brands can re-imagine business and marketing operations to deliver value through meaningful, assistive experiences in everyday moments.
Generation-C is already supporting (and growing) brands that shift from mass marketing to mass personalization. The question is, are you ready to be an adviser brand in the age of assistance?
More about:
connected millenials mobile
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Generation-C gives rise to the Age of Assistance
Beyond Millennials, Centennials or any age demographic for that matter, the consumer every brand needs to pay attention to the group I call “Generation-C.”
Author
Brian Solis
Date published
February 28, 2018
Categories
Strategy & Leadership
Millennials and the younger Centennials behind them are often the focus of attention (and blame) when it comes to brand disruption. It’s not uncommon to see headlines such as “Millennials are Killing [Insert Industry, Brand, Institution].”
Truth is that they’re not the sole culprit. Consumerism as a whole is evolving and many businesses are not upgrading or updating value propositions, processes or products. Beyond Millennials, Centennials or any age demographic for that matter, the consumer every brand needs to pay attention to the group I call “Generation-C.”
This ever-growing group of connected consumers interacts with brands differently and has a rising expectation for on-demand assistance. As Google puts it, these highly-connected, mobile-first consumers are giving rise to “the age of assistance.”
Unlike other Generational classifiers, Generation-C, where “C” represents “Connected,” is not organized by age. Instead, it’s comprised of digital consumers who share common (and evolving) intent, behaviors, preferences and aspirations. As a result of their connected lifestyle, they’re also increasingly curious, impatient and demanding as a result.
It’s no longer digital-first, it’s now a mobile-first world
Legacy brand playbooks are not only outdated, they’re missing the elements necessary to engage consumers in ways they value and desire. It’s not enough to be digital. Brands must now become mobile-first to meet the rising expectations of Gen-C.
Mobile has fundamentally altered the way people interact with brands. This affects how people search and consume content. Micro-moments have now become the standard for how consumers use their mobile devices in the moments that matter to know, go, do, and buy.
But now, they also expect more personal, seamless, immediate and assistive experiences. This gives rise to an age of assistance and the need for “adviser brands” to guide them.
To help develop a playbook for the age of assistance, Google assembled a revealing primer that sheds light on how consumers are seeking assistive brand engagement.
Generation-C is curious
There was once a time when curiosity “killed the cat.” Now it’s a way of life. Connected consumers are research-obsessed and will use their mobile device to research decisions whether they’re small or big. For example, the use of “best” in mobile searches is up 80 percent in the past two years.
And mobile search that reveal the extent to which consumers are seeking to be informed aren’t just limited to the “best” big ticket items. Searches for smaller, everyday items are also skyrocketing. Mobile searches for “best umbrellas,” for instance, is up over 140 percent. Queries for “best toothbrush” are up over 100 percent.
In some cases, connected consumers don’t know what to search, so they’ll search topics to give them ideas where to start and go. In the past two years, mobile searches for “_____ ideas” have grown over 55 percent. Mobile watchtime of YouTube videos with “idea” in the title have increased over 95 percent These explorations run the gamut according to Google, including:
Bathroom remodel ideas
Room decorating ideas
Graduation party ideas
Groomsmen gift ideas
On the other end of the “best” spectrum is the “worst.” Connected consumers are also curious to know if your brand or product are worth it.
Google learned that there are 1.5X more mobile searches ending with “to avoid” in the past two years, e.g.:
cooking oil brands to avoid
refrigerators to avoid
Mobile searches for “is ____ worth it” have also grown over 80% in the past two years.
Is life insurance worth it
Is organic milk worth it
Is an electric toothbrush worth it
Generation-C is demanding
With increased connectivity comes more information, which leads to empowerment and eventually leads consumers to become more demanding. Connected consumers expect brands to understand their intent and context and deliver personalized content in the right moment to guide them along their journey.
According to Google, mobile searches that include personal language such as “me and “I” are on the rise. Mobile searches that contain “___ for me” have grown over 60 percent in the last two years. Sample searches include:
What running shoes are best for me?
Best haircut for me
Which credit card is best for me?
Connected consumers are also expecting the Internet and online tribes to help them understand what they should do in specific instances. Mobile searches for “should I___” have grown 80 percent in the past two years. Examples include:
What should I do today?
How many credit cards should I have?
What should I make for dinner?
Inferring context is also becoming more and more common. For example, consumers are sharing less information about their location. In most searches regarding location, “near me” or specific locations that were once included are now gone. Now, consumers just expect for location details to be a given in the information that they find.
Generation-C is impatient
It used to be that patience was a virtue. Now it might be true for impatience. Connected consumers want things…now. They’re making decisions faster than ever before and they expect to act on those decisions immediately. Brands must now invest in assistive experiences to keep up with fast-moving consumers while also earning competitive advantages.
When connected consumers reach for their smartphone to research, Google learned that they do so to be more informed, prepared or productive. Consumers expect the right results in real time. For instance, Google shared the following mobile search trends:
Interest for ”open now” has jumped 300 percent.
“Same-day shipping” searches are up 120 percent.
“____ wait time” has grown 120% for restaurants, theme parks, and anything commonly associated with lines.
The age of assistance is upon us. While it may see like yet another front to further extend already limited resources, it represents an opportunity for marketing innovation and growth.
Like Generation-C, marketers too have access to modern tools and capabilities. Ultimately, connected, mobile consumers seek assistance. That means adviser brands can re-imagine business and marketing operations to deliver value through meaningful, assistive experiences in everyday moments.
Generation-C is already supporting (and growing) brands that shift from mass marketing to mass personalization. The question is, are you ready to be an adviser brand in the age of assistance?
More about:
connected millenials mobile
Get the latest analysis and reports delivered to your inbox daily
Get the latest analysis and reports delivered to your inbox daily
Sign up
Related Articles
Empathy, transparency and the omni-channel customer: Q+A with Walmart CMO Tony Rogers
Strategy & Leadership Empathy, transparency and the omni-channel customer: Q+A with Walmart CMO Tony Rogers
2m Jenna Sereni
Digital Marketing
Social Media
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Ecommerce
Display Advertising
Strategies
Industry Developments
Marketing Technology
Data & Analytics
Social & Community
Digital Advertising
Email & Automation
Ecommerce & Sales
Content
Collaboration
Search
Emerging Technology
AI
AR & VR
Chatbots
Mobile
Resources
Digital Marketing
Marketing Technology
Digital Transformation
Emerging Technology
Digital Transformation
Strategy & Leadership
Retail
CPG
Finance
Tools & Technology
Education
Stats & Tools
CPM Calculator
CPA Calculator
ROI Calculator
Information
About us
Subscribe to newsletter
Submit an article
Promote your business
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Follow us
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Applications are now open for the 8th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East
This prize, awarded by Orange, rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East
PARIS, France, March 1, 2018/ -- The call for applications for the 8th Orange (www.Orange.com) Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East opens today and will run through 31 May 2018, under the “Orange Social Venture Prize” section on the http://EntrepreneurClub.orange.com/en.
This prize, awarded by Orange, rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.
The competition will start with a national phase, during which each of the 17 participating Orange subsidiaries will assess the projects submitted in its country and select 3 winners. This will be followed by an international phase, during which all 51 national winners will compete for an international jury which will present the Orange Social Venture Prize grand prize to the three final winners at the AfricaCom Awards event, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in November.
In addition to their national prizes, the three winners will receive €25,000, €15,000 and €10,000 respectively, as well as six months of personalised support from start-up creation and financing professionals.
The Orange Social Venture Prize is open to all students, employees and entrepreneurs over age 21 whose initiative is under three years old and serves Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Jordan, Liberia or Burkina-Faso.
Bruno Mettling, CEO Orange Middle East and Africa, says: “1,200 projects were submitted in 2017, a 60% increase over 2016. Support for talented start-ups is at the heart of Orange’s development strategy. With the Orange Social Venture Prize, we reaffirm our commitment to being a partner for the innovators working to improve daily life ever year.”
Detecting young talents is a core element of Orange’s strategy. Since its creation in 2011, the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East has already provided support to close to twenty projects.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange.
Press contacts: +33 (0)1 44 44 93 93
Nathalie Chevrier; Nathalie.Chevrier@Orange.com
Tom Wright; Tom.Wright@Orange.com
About Orange
Orange (www.Orange.com) is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 41 billion euros in 2017 and 152,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2017, including 93,000 employees in France. Present in 29 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 273 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2017, including 211 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.
Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.Orange.com, www.Orange-Business.com or to follow us on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
SOURCE
Orange
PARIS, France, March 1, 2018/ -- The call for applications for the 8th Orange (www.Orange.com) Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East opens today and will run through 31 May 2018, under the “Orange Social Venture Prize” section on the http://EntrepreneurClub.orange.com/en.
This prize, awarded by Orange, rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.
The competition will start with a national phase, during which each of the 17 participating Orange subsidiaries will assess the projects submitted in its country and select 3 winners. This will be followed by an international phase, during which all 51 national winners will compete for an international jury which will present the Orange Social Venture Prize grand prize to the three final winners at the AfricaCom Awards event, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in November.
In addition to their national prizes, the three winners will receive €25,000, €15,000 and €10,000 respectively, as well as six months of personalised support from start-up creation and financing professionals.
The Orange Social Venture Prize is open to all students, employees and entrepreneurs over age 21 whose initiative is under three years old and serves Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Tunisia, Jordan, Liberia or Burkina-Faso.
Bruno Mettling, CEO Orange Middle East and Africa, says: “1,200 projects were submitted in 2017, a 60% increase over 2016. Support for talented start-ups is at the heart of Orange’s development strategy. With the Orange Social Venture Prize, we reaffirm our commitment to being a partner for the innovators working to improve daily life ever year.”
Detecting young talents is a core element of Orange’s strategy. Since its creation in 2011, the Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East has already provided support to close to twenty projects.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange.
Press contacts: +33 (0)1 44 44 93 93
Nathalie Chevrier; Nathalie.Chevrier@Orange.com
Tom Wright; Tom.Wright@Orange.com
About Orange
Orange (www.Orange.com) is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 41 billion euros in 2017 and 152,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2017, including 93,000 employees in France. Present in 29 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 273 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2017, including 211 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.
Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.Orange.com, www.Orange-Business.com or to follow us on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
SOURCE
Orange
International Rugby Tournament is a Ghana National Issue - Herbert Mensah
The amount needed to host the Bronze Cup in Ghana, an honour that was bestowed on Ghana for the second year in a row, runs into tens of thousands of dollars
ACCRA, Ghana, March 1, 2018/ -- Mr. Herbert Mensah, President of the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) (http://GhanaRugby.org) briefed the Ghana Rugby Family on the upcoming Rugby Africa Bronze Cup scheduled for May 2018 and said that it was, in fact, more a Ghana flag flying event than just a Rugby event.
In a video message from his home in Accra, Mensah said that the hosting of the Bronze Cup in Ghana against nations such as Lesotho, Mauritius and Rwanda is massive not only for Ghana Rugby but indeed for Ghana as a whole.
“The amounts involved are massive, and there are some parties who are up-and-standing and who are supporting the event. I thank them,” Mensah said.
Mensah has been critical in the past of the lack of support from the Ghana sporting bodies of their support to not only Ghana Rugby, but to all minority sports in general.
The amount needed to host the Bronze Cup in Ghana, an honour that was bestowed on Ghana for the second year in a row, runs into tens of thousands of dollars and Mensah appealed to all to come forward and help to make Ghanaians proud of one of their best performing national sports.
Ghana Rugby had a memorable year in 2017 when it managed to achieve the following exceptional accolades:
• Winning the Rugby Afrique Regional Challenge between Ghana, Benin and Togo in May 2017;
• Becoming Full Members of World Rugby on 10 May 2017 in a record time of fewer than three years;
• Achieving a ranking on the Rugby Afrique Men’s Sevens table for the first time in its history in Kampala in October 2017,
• Getting promoted to the Rugby Afrique Bronze Cup Division in November 2017, and
• Being awarded the hosting rights of the Rugby Africa Bronze Cup in May 2018.
Mensah’s briefing on the big event in Ghana’s sporting calendar can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/UYyDqB6C6B0
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ghana Rugby Football Union.
View multimedia content
Media Enquiries: +27 83 885 1660
Email: Info@GhanaRugby.org
About Ghana Rugby
Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org) is the official full member of both World Rugby and Rugby Afrique in Ghana-West Africa and is charged with the management and development of the game Rugby Union in the country.
Website: http://GhanaRugby.org
SOURCE
Ghana Rugby Football Union
ACCRA, Ghana, March 1, 2018/ -- Mr. Herbert Mensah, President of the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) (http://GhanaRugby.org) briefed the Ghana Rugby Family on the upcoming Rugby Africa Bronze Cup scheduled for May 2018 and said that it was, in fact, more a Ghana flag flying event than just a Rugby event.
In a video message from his home in Accra, Mensah said that the hosting of the Bronze Cup in Ghana against nations such as Lesotho, Mauritius and Rwanda is massive not only for Ghana Rugby but indeed for Ghana as a whole.
“The amounts involved are massive, and there are some parties who are up-and-standing and who are supporting the event. I thank them,” Mensah said.
Mensah has been critical in the past of the lack of support from the Ghana sporting bodies of their support to not only Ghana Rugby, but to all minority sports in general.
The amount needed to host the Bronze Cup in Ghana, an honour that was bestowed on Ghana for the second year in a row, runs into tens of thousands of dollars and Mensah appealed to all to come forward and help to make Ghanaians proud of one of their best performing national sports.
Ghana Rugby had a memorable year in 2017 when it managed to achieve the following exceptional accolades:
• Winning the Rugby Afrique Regional Challenge between Ghana, Benin and Togo in May 2017;
• Becoming Full Members of World Rugby on 10 May 2017 in a record time of fewer than three years;
• Achieving a ranking on the Rugby Afrique Men’s Sevens table for the first time in its history in Kampala in October 2017,
• Getting promoted to the Rugby Afrique Bronze Cup Division in November 2017, and
• Being awarded the hosting rights of the Rugby Africa Bronze Cup in May 2018.
Mensah’s briefing on the big event in Ghana’s sporting calendar can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/UYyDqB6C6B0
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ghana Rugby Football Union.
View multimedia content
Media Enquiries: +27 83 885 1660
Email: Info@GhanaRugby.org
About Ghana Rugby
Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org) is the official full member of both World Rugby and Rugby Afrique in Ghana-West Africa and is charged with the management and development of the game Rugby Union in the country.
Website: http://GhanaRugby.org
SOURCE
Ghana Rugby Football Union
Africa’s Mara Corporation set to introduce Mara X, an Android One phone in partnership with Google
With unlimited high quality photo storage from Google Photos and a carefully curated set of pre-installed apps, the Mara X makes sure African users have enough space for the apps they love
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Spain, March 1, 2018/ -- In partnership with Google, Mara Corporation Limited (MC) (https://Mara.com) is set to release the Mara X for the African market in the second quarter of 2018. The Mara X will be a one-of-a-kind high-quality, smartphone.
The Mara X will be launched as part of Google’s Android One portfolio, getting a software experience designed by Google to be smart, secure and simply amazing. The Mara X comes with the latest innovations from Google. It will run the latest operating system, Android 8.0 Oreo; will get two years of OS upgrades; and the device has been optimized for the Google Assistant which is your own personal Google, ready to help throughout your day. With unlimited high quality photo storage from Google Photos and a carefully curated set of pre-installed apps, the Mara X makes sure African users have enough space for the apps they love. Regular security updates and Google Play Protect built in mean the Mara X is among the most secure devices available.
“Across Africa and in other emerging markets, we need smartphones that are both extremely affordable and high quality,” explained Mara Chairman Jagdish Thakkar (https://goo.gl/mLVCqJ). “These phones will give people the ability to improve their lives through accessing information online and using them for trade and financial services.”
Siya Chug, the Brand Director, describes the Mara Phone (https://Phone.Mara.com) as a “proudly African brand.” Mara Group began as a small IT business in Uganda, and has since expanded to the globally recognized multi-sector investment group that it is today, employing over 14,000 people across 25 African countries and three continents.
Mara Corporation (www.Mara.com) is also focused on building a digital e-commerce ecosystem to meet the evolving needs of consumers across Africa by investing in key e-commerce enablers like financial technology, social media, last mile logistics and now the Mara X.
“The Mara X is a device that people can have fun with, learn with and use to build a better future. Africa is seeing a new generation of entrepreneurs looking for mobile technology to help run their businesses, and the Mara X will work for them to pursue greater heights. Our continent is expected to have over 700 million smartphones within a few years, and that connectivity will truly transform lives.” – Mara Corporation Founder, Ashish J Thakkar (www.AshishJThakkar.com).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mara Group.
Media Enquiries: Media@Mara.com
For more information:
About Mara Phone: https://Phone.Mara.com
About Mara Corporation: www.Mara.com
About Android One: www.Android.com/one
SOURCE
Mara Group
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Spain, March 1, 2018/ -- In partnership with Google, Mara Corporation Limited (MC) (https://Mara.com) is set to release the Mara X for the African market in the second quarter of 2018. The Mara X will be a one-of-a-kind high-quality, smartphone.
The Mara X will be launched as part of Google’s Android One portfolio, getting a software experience designed by Google to be smart, secure and simply amazing. The Mara X comes with the latest innovations from Google. It will run the latest operating system, Android 8.0 Oreo; will get two years of OS upgrades; and the device has been optimized for the Google Assistant which is your own personal Google, ready to help throughout your day. With unlimited high quality photo storage from Google Photos and a carefully curated set of pre-installed apps, the Mara X makes sure African users have enough space for the apps they love. Regular security updates and Google Play Protect built in mean the Mara X is among the most secure devices available.
“Across Africa and in other emerging markets, we need smartphones that are both extremely affordable and high quality,” explained Mara Chairman Jagdish Thakkar (https://goo.gl/mLVCqJ). “These phones will give people the ability to improve their lives through accessing information online and using them for trade and financial services.”
Siya Chug, the Brand Director, describes the Mara Phone (https://Phone.Mara.com) as a “proudly African brand.” Mara Group began as a small IT business in Uganda, and has since expanded to the globally recognized multi-sector investment group that it is today, employing over 14,000 people across 25 African countries and three continents.
Mara Corporation (www.Mara.com) is also focused on building a digital e-commerce ecosystem to meet the evolving needs of consumers across Africa by investing in key e-commerce enablers like financial technology, social media, last mile logistics and now the Mara X.
“The Mara X is a device that people can have fun with, learn with and use to build a better future. Africa is seeing a new generation of entrepreneurs looking for mobile technology to help run their businesses, and the Mara X will work for them to pursue greater heights. Our continent is expected to have over 700 million smartphones within a few years, and that connectivity will truly transform lives.” – Mara Corporation Founder, Ashish J Thakkar (www.AshishJThakkar.com).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mara Group.
Media Enquiries: Media@Mara.com
For more information:
About Mara Phone: https://Phone.Mara.com
About Mara Corporation: www.Mara.com
About Android One: www.Android.com/one
SOURCE
Mara Group
Entrepreneur.com/Sherrie Campbell: 8 Traits of Outstanding People
Entrepreneur - US edition
Traits
8 Traits of Outstanding People
Outstanding isn't something a person has, it is something a person does.
Next
8 Traits of Outstanding People
Image credit: Gary Burchell | Getty Images
Sherrie Campbell
Sherrie Campbell
Contributor
Psychologist, Author, Speaker
2 hours ago 7 min read
A Note From The Editor
Think your company has what it takes to make our Top Company Cultures list? Apply now.
Apply now »
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
We know that the outstanding stand amongst us because we can feel it when we’re around them. They have something special inside we wish we possessed inside of ourselves. The good news is we are all capable of excellence. It is helpful to spend time learning about outstanding people and to bear witness to how they do what they do to be who they are. As we learn about them, all we have to do is emulate their character traits and own them as our own. Outstanding isn’t something a person has, it is something a person does.
What does it take to be outstanding?
1. Purpose
Outstanding people are driven by a powerful sense of purpose both in their individual lives and in relation to the world at large. They have defined the impact they desire to have and have held tight to their vision with every ounce of their focus. The purpose of life, for outstanding people, is always about service. They want to be involved in ways where they have the opportunity to show and use their compassion to help elevate others. To be outstanding, we have to find something dear to our heart and hold onto it. We need a purpose we are so deeply invested in that motivation and inspiration are not hard to access. We must know who we are and how we want to be of service in this world.
Related: Find Your Purpose In 10 Minutes or Less
2. Passion
Outstanding people back their purpose with an unrelenting energy of passion. They follow their dreams, they work hard, are willing sacrifice whatever they need to, and refuse to let naysayers get in the way of their dreams. Their mission in life has nothing to do with surviving. Outstanding people don’t survive life, they live their lives to the absolute fullest. They make sure to possess a humble and great sense of humor, they make time for their personal growth and development, are dedicated to self-compassion and to living their lives with an energy of class. Their sense of passion for what they do is intoxicating. To be outstanding, we must follow our passions. We must be prepared to work hard and to sacrifice. We must shun our naysayers by removing them from our consciousness, live our days with a lighthearted composure and deeply love what we do.
Related: 7 Tips for Loving Your Career and Working With Passion
3. Perseverance
Nothing in life comes easy. Outstanding people don’t lament about his fact, they respect it. What they want out of life is perceived as worth the hard work it takes for them to get it. They are prepared to have to fight and dig for what they believe in. They are prepared for setbacks and accept that these are the times when they will need to gather their courage and fortitude. They are prepared to be tired, to feel burned out and frustrated. They expect all of this and are wise to prepare for it. They know that whatever they are going through, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They know all they have to do to get to the end of a challenge is to simply keep grinding. If we want to be outstanding, we have to be diligent in our pursuit. We have to develop the tough-mindedness and work ethic it takes to rise above the rest.
Related: Never Quit: Strategies on Perseverance From 6 Seasoned Entrepreneurs
4. Choice
Outstanding people wake up each day and choose life. They choose joy, they choose grace, and they choose to see their blessings. Outstanding people thrive on the freedom they gain from being able to continue to make their mistakes and the choices necessary to learn and to grow from them. They know that it is one thing to be in the climb to the top, and whole other thing to be at the top. Outstanding people make the choice to look their fears in the face. Through this process, they gain the strength, knowledge and experience to be exactly who they are. If we want to be outstanding, we need to look back at the horrors and hardships we’ve experienced and know that we stood steadfast. We must see our time on this earth as limited. We cannot and must not waste any time while we’re here. We must gather the resources we need to make the best choices we can to set ourselves apart to live our own blessed journey. We must wake up and choose to succeed.
Related: Success Is Never an Accident. It's a Choice.
5. Commitment
Commitment is the cornerstone of success. Outstanding people understand that commitment isn’t something they come by naturally, so they back all their desires with the discipline to achieve them. They commit to their own excellence by actively being a person they can love and respect. If we want to be outstanding, we cannot lowkey commit, we must commit one hundred percent to what we’re pursuing. If we aren’t fully committed, we cannot fully live our dreams. Outstanding people never do anything halfway and neither should we.
Related: The 9 Commitments Required to Succeed
6. Failure
Outstanding people welcome and respect the concept and experience of failure. Nothing takes them further in their own learning, and nor does anything teach them or redirect their efforts more fully or quickly than failure. Genius will not; talent will not; but hard work and a willingness to learn are the qualities that take outstanding people wherever they want to go. If we want to be outstanding, we must learn not to stand in fear of our failures; rather, we must learn to build upon them. We must view our failures as stepping stones to our own success and greatness. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. We must never give up. We must learn to start from where we are, with the resources we have, and to do what we can from this place.
Related: 10 Blessings That Come Hidden in Rejection, Losing and Failure
7. Support
Outstanding people embrace the idea that succeeding is never a one-man-job. Outstanding people have a team of confidants and supports who travel with them along their journey through life. These supports are an integral part of them being as outstanding as they are. Outstanding people aren’t just outstanding, they have lost hope, they have lost direction, and they have been broken and put back together time and again. It has been their supports who have helped them navigate through their tougher times.To be outstanding, we must gather our supports. We must listen to them, love them and appreciate them. We all needs support and understanding to ward off the ugly predators of anxiety, fear, depression and frustration.
Related: What Do You Do When Your Spouse Doesn't Support Your Entrepreneurial Dreams?
8. Optimism
Outstanding people embrace the undeniable value of being positive. Optimism gives them the faith they need to achieve all of their aims. They know that absolutely nothing they set out to accomplish can be accomplished without hope and confidence. For this reason, outstanding people make sure to smile a lot, to focus on the bright side and to positively acknowledge those who support them. If we want to be outstanding, we must be positive. We must love what we do enough that we allow that love to spill over onto everyone around us. Few things in this world are more powerful than giving another person a positive push. Optimism is the culture we want to create, so that the purpose we're pursuing has a greater chance at longevity. If someone puts us down or criticizes us, we need to keep believing in ourselves and turn that negative into something positive. We were born to win, but to be a winner, we must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
Free Webinar: How to Provide Consistent and Extraordinary Customer Experiences
Free Webinar: How to Provide Consistent and Extraordinary Customer Experiences
Uncover the best practices for improving productivity and reliability, while striving for innovation and growth. Register Now »
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Next
Traits
8 Traits of Outstanding People
Outstanding isn't something a person has, it is something a person does.
Next
8 Traits of Outstanding People
Image credit: Gary Burchell | Getty Images
Sherrie Campbell
Sherrie Campbell
Contributor
Psychologist, Author, Speaker
2 hours ago 7 min read
A Note From The Editor
Think your company has what it takes to make our Top Company Cultures list? Apply now.
Apply now »
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
We know that the outstanding stand amongst us because we can feel it when we’re around them. They have something special inside we wish we possessed inside of ourselves. The good news is we are all capable of excellence. It is helpful to spend time learning about outstanding people and to bear witness to how they do what they do to be who they are. As we learn about them, all we have to do is emulate their character traits and own them as our own. Outstanding isn’t something a person has, it is something a person does.
What does it take to be outstanding?
1. Purpose
Outstanding people are driven by a powerful sense of purpose both in their individual lives and in relation to the world at large. They have defined the impact they desire to have and have held tight to their vision with every ounce of their focus. The purpose of life, for outstanding people, is always about service. They want to be involved in ways where they have the opportunity to show and use their compassion to help elevate others. To be outstanding, we have to find something dear to our heart and hold onto it. We need a purpose we are so deeply invested in that motivation and inspiration are not hard to access. We must know who we are and how we want to be of service in this world.
Related: Find Your Purpose In 10 Minutes or Less
2. Passion
Outstanding people back their purpose with an unrelenting energy of passion. They follow their dreams, they work hard, are willing sacrifice whatever they need to, and refuse to let naysayers get in the way of their dreams. Their mission in life has nothing to do with surviving. Outstanding people don’t survive life, they live their lives to the absolute fullest. They make sure to possess a humble and great sense of humor, they make time for their personal growth and development, are dedicated to self-compassion and to living their lives with an energy of class. Their sense of passion for what they do is intoxicating. To be outstanding, we must follow our passions. We must be prepared to work hard and to sacrifice. We must shun our naysayers by removing them from our consciousness, live our days with a lighthearted composure and deeply love what we do.
Related: 7 Tips for Loving Your Career and Working With Passion
3. Perseverance
Nothing in life comes easy. Outstanding people don’t lament about his fact, they respect it. What they want out of life is perceived as worth the hard work it takes for them to get it. They are prepared to have to fight and dig for what they believe in. They are prepared for setbacks and accept that these are the times when they will need to gather their courage and fortitude. They are prepared to be tired, to feel burned out and frustrated. They expect all of this and are wise to prepare for it. They know that whatever they are going through, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They know all they have to do to get to the end of a challenge is to simply keep grinding. If we want to be outstanding, we have to be diligent in our pursuit. We have to develop the tough-mindedness and work ethic it takes to rise above the rest.
Related: Never Quit: Strategies on Perseverance From 6 Seasoned Entrepreneurs
4. Choice
Outstanding people wake up each day and choose life. They choose joy, they choose grace, and they choose to see their blessings. Outstanding people thrive on the freedom they gain from being able to continue to make their mistakes and the choices necessary to learn and to grow from them. They know that it is one thing to be in the climb to the top, and whole other thing to be at the top. Outstanding people make the choice to look their fears in the face. Through this process, they gain the strength, knowledge and experience to be exactly who they are. If we want to be outstanding, we need to look back at the horrors and hardships we’ve experienced and know that we stood steadfast. We must see our time on this earth as limited. We cannot and must not waste any time while we’re here. We must gather the resources we need to make the best choices we can to set ourselves apart to live our own blessed journey. We must wake up and choose to succeed.
Related: Success Is Never an Accident. It's a Choice.
5. Commitment
Commitment is the cornerstone of success. Outstanding people understand that commitment isn’t something they come by naturally, so they back all their desires with the discipline to achieve them. They commit to their own excellence by actively being a person they can love and respect. If we want to be outstanding, we cannot lowkey commit, we must commit one hundred percent to what we’re pursuing. If we aren’t fully committed, we cannot fully live our dreams. Outstanding people never do anything halfway and neither should we.
Related: The 9 Commitments Required to Succeed
6. Failure
Outstanding people welcome and respect the concept and experience of failure. Nothing takes them further in their own learning, and nor does anything teach them or redirect their efforts more fully or quickly than failure. Genius will not; talent will not; but hard work and a willingness to learn are the qualities that take outstanding people wherever they want to go. If we want to be outstanding, we must learn not to stand in fear of our failures; rather, we must learn to build upon them. We must view our failures as stepping stones to our own success and greatness. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. We must never give up. We must learn to start from where we are, with the resources we have, and to do what we can from this place.
Related: 10 Blessings That Come Hidden in Rejection, Losing and Failure
7. Support
Outstanding people embrace the idea that succeeding is never a one-man-job. Outstanding people have a team of confidants and supports who travel with them along their journey through life. These supports are an integral part of them being as outstanding as they are. Outstanding people aren’t just outstanding, they have lost hope, they have lost direction, and they have been broken and put back together time and again. It has been their supports who have helped them navigate through their tougher times.To be outstanding, we must gather our supports. We must listen to them, love them and appreciate them. We all needs support and understanding to ward off the ugly predators of anxiety, fear, depression and frustration.
Related: What Do You Do When Your Spouse Doesn't Support Your Entrepreneurial Dreams?
8. Optimism
Outstanding people embrace the undeniable value of being positive. Optimism gives them the faith they need to achieve all of their aims. They know that absolutely nothing they set out to accomplish can be accomplished without hope and confidence. For this reason, outstanding people make sure to smile a lot, to focus on the bright side and to positively acknowledge those who support them. If we want to be outstanding, we must be positive. We must love what we do enough that we allow that love to spill over onto everyone around us. Few things in this world are more powerful than giving another person a positive push. Optimism is the culture we want to create, so that the purpose we're pursuing has a greater chance at longevity. If someone puts us down or criticizes us, we need to keep believing in ourselves and turn that negative into something positive. We were born to win, but to be a winner, we must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
Free Webinar: How to Provide Consistent and Extraordinary Customer Experiences
Free Webinar: How to Provide Consistent and Extraordinary Customer Experiences
Uncover the best practices for improving productivity and reliability, while striving for innovation and growth. Register Now »
Popular In the Community
Latest on Entrepreneur
Company
Advertise
Brand Licensing
Contact Us
Staff
Contribute
Reprints & Licensing
Products
Women Entrepreneur
Franchise
Network
Podcasts
Books
Connect
Shop
Editions
United States
Middle East
India
Español
Philippines
South Africa
China
Get the Magazine
Edition: March 2018
Download on App Store
Download on Play Store
Download on Kindle
Subscribe
Join Our Newsletter
Entrepreneur
Terms of Use Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Site Map
Copyright © 2018 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Next
Mastercard Uses Facebook Messenger to Help Small Businesses Go Digital
Launches Masterpass QR bot for Messenger to enable Nigerian businesses to set up digital money accounts and accept QR payments
BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2018/ -- At Mobile World Congress (www.MobileWorldCongress.com), Mastercard (www.Mastercard.com) today announced that it will use Facebook Messenger to provide technology to small businesses in Africa and Asia to drive affordable acceptance of electronic and mobile payments. Access to digital payments will help these businesses expand to new markets, and unlock financial services and products that enables them to grow their livelihoods.
This Messenger experience will launch in Nigeria, where Mastercard will pilot a new Masterpass QR (https://Masterpass.com) bot to help business owners' move beyond cash transactions to accepting QR payments. Ecobank (www.Ecobank.com) and Zenith Bank will support this inaugural program. The pilot in Nigeria is the beginning of a larger plan by the two companies to include more businesses into the digital economy.
According to research done by The Fletcher School and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, of the $301 billion of funds flow from consumers to businesses in Nigeria, 98 percent is still based on cash.
“Every business owner is looking for ways to increase sales and draw new customers into their stores. By offering QR-based digital payments, smaller retailers can achieve these goals and create greater customer stickiness with little to no investment beyond the phone they already have,” said Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Channels and Regions, Mastercard. “Masterpass QR opens up new commerce channels for these merchants and enables them to create auditable transaction records. These advances open doors to other financial tools and products such as loans to drive added business growth.”
To get started, businesses can send a request to the bot to enable QR payments, receive approval from the bank, set up an account and start accepting digital payments in a fast, simple and secure manner. Once the account set up process is complete, business owners can print and display the QR code in their stores or save the code on their phones. Customers can pay by either scanning the code from their smartphone or by entering the merchant ID associated with the QR code into their feature phone.
“Brands and developers around the world are turning to messaging to connect with the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger each month,” said Kahina Van Dyke, Director of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships at Facebook. “We are pleased that Mastercard is developing a service on the Messenger Platform to help small merchants use messaging to manage their business and connect with their customers.”
Launched in 2016, Masterpass QR provides people with any type of mobile phone the ability to safely accept and make in-person purchases without cash or a plastic card. It provides greater choice in payments and complements Mastercard’s investment in contactless payments to provide merchants of all sizes – from international chains to individual shop owners and street vendors – a fast, secure and inexpensive way to accept payments.
Quotes from partner banks in Nigeria:
“In line with our goal to serve 100 million Africans by the end of 2020, Ecobank is delighted to collaborate with Facebook and Mastercard to enable underserved and unbanked micro-merchants with the opportunity to open an Ecobank account almost immediately and begin to receive instant payments using Ecobank Masterpass QR on the Facebook Messenger platform. Micro merchants in Nigeria are already benefiting from Masterpass QR and will soon be in 32 markets across Africa, enabling them to move away from cash. That is true economic empowerment,” said Patrick Akinwuntan, Group Executive, Consumer Bank, Ecobank Group.
“Our Bank is partnering with Facebook and Mastercard to introduce Masterpass QR as a means of driving financial inclusion and creating a new payment ecosystem for MSMEs and consumers," said Mr. Peter Amangbo, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc. “This initiative will help us encourage financial inclusion within the country in line with the strategic thrust of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Buyers and sellers now meet and conclude transactions in-store, online and on social media, so we are ensuring payments can also be made on these platforms via QR codes, without having to log onto other solutions or even take a break from what you are doing on Facebook.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mastercard.
Mastercard Communications Contact
Chaiti Sen – Global Communications
+1 914-263-6542
Chaiti.Sen@Mastercard.com
Geraldine Grealey – Africa Communications
+27 (11) 7803981
Geraldine.Grealey@Mastercard.com
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), (www.Mastercard.com), is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog (https://Newsroom.Mastercard.com/blog) and subscribe (https://goo.gl/SpGJEc) for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau (https://Newsroom.Mastercard.com).
SOURCE
Mastercard
BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2018/ -- At Mobile World Congress (www.MobileWorldCongress.com), Mastercard (www.Mastercard.com) today announced that it will use Facebook Messenger to provide technology to small businesses in Africa and Asia to drive affordable acceptance of electronic and mobile payments. Access to digital payments will help these businesses expand to new markets, and unlock financial services and products that enables them to grow their livelihoods.
This Messenger experience will launch in Nigeria, where Mastercard will pilot a new Masterpass QR (https://Masterpass.com) bot to help business owners' move beyond cash transactions to accepting QR payments. Ecobank (www.Ecobank.com) and Zenith Bank will support this inaugural program. The pilot in Nigeria is the beginning of a larger plan by the two companies to include more businesses into the digital economy.
According to research done by The Fletcher School and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, of the $301 billion of funds flow from consumers to businesses in Nigeria, 98 percent is still based on cash.
“Every business owner is looking for ways to increase sales and draw new customers into their stores. By offering QR-based digital payments, smaller retailers can achieve these goals and create greater customer stickiness with little to no investment beyond the phone they already have,” said Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Channels and Regions, Mastercard. “Masterpass QR opens up new commerce channels for these merchants and enables them to create auditable transaction records. These advances open doors to other financial tools and products such as loans to drive added business growth.”
To get started, businesses can send a request to the bot to enable QR payments, receive approval from the bank, set up an account and start accepting digital payments in a fast, simple and secure manner. Once the account set up process is complete, business owners can print and display the QR code in their stores or save the code on their phones. Customers can pay by either scanning the code from their smartphone or by entering the merchant ID associated with the QR code into their feature phone.
“Brands and developers around the world are turning to messaging to connect with the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger each month,” said Kahina Van Dyke, Director of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships at Facebook. “We are pleased that Mastercard is developing a service on the Messenger Platform to help small merchants use messaging to manage their business and connect with their customers.”
Launched in 2016, Masterpass QR provides people with any type of mobile phone the ability to safely accept and make in-person purchases without cash or a plastic card. It provides greater choice in payments and complements Mastercard’s investment in contactless payments to provide merchants of all sizes – from international chains to individual shop owners and street vendors – a fast, secure and inexpensive way to accept payments.
Quotes from partner banks in Nigeria:
“In line with our goal to serve 100 million Africans by the end of 2020, Ecobank is delighted to collaborate with Facebook and Mastercard to enable underserved and unbanked micro-merchants with the opportunity to open an Ecobank account almost immediately and begin to receive instant payments using Ecobank Masterpass QR on the Facebook Messenger platform. Micro merchants in Nigeria are already benefiting from Masterpass QR and will soon be in 32 markets across Africa, enabling them to move away from cash. That is true economic empowerment,” said Patrick Akinwuntan, Group Executive, Consumer Bank, Ecobank Group.
“Our Bank is partnering with Facebook and Mastercard to introduce Masterpass QR as a means of driving financial inclusion and creating a new payment ecosystem for MSMEs and consumers," said Mr. Peter Amangbo, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc. “This initiative will help us encourage financial inclusion within the country in line with the strategic thrust of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Buyers and sellers now meet and conclude transactions in-store, online and on social media, so we are ensuring payments can also be made on these platforms via QR codes, without having to log onto other solutions or even take a break from what you are doing on Facebook.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mastercard.
Mastercard Communications Contact
Chaiti Sen – Global Communications
+1 914-263-6542
Chaiti.Sen@Mastercard.com
Geraldine Grealey – Africa Communications
+27 (11) 7803981
Geraldine.Grealey@Mastercard.com
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), (www.Mastercard.com), is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog (https://Newsroom.Mastercard.com/blog) and subscribe (https://goo.gl/SpGJEc) for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau (https://Newsroom.Mastercard.com).
SOURCE
Mastercard
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