“For several years, we have noticed that the reason for being of women-led businesses is very widespread, says Sévrine Labelle, CEO of Femmessor. Just recently, we spoke with 100 different women entrepreneurs and this is what came out: their main motivation is to help change the world.”

“The impact investing movement is relatively nascent,” says Alain-Olivier Desbois, President of Elements Financial. “The Rockefeller Foundation defined this terminology in 2007. In Quebec, the craze has been particularly pronounced in the last two years. Several institutions and groups have decided to integrate these aspects into their business practices and several investors have adapted their investment strategy to this new reality.”

What is impact investing? It is an investment in a company, organization or fund with the intention of having a positive and measurable social and environmental impact. “At the beginning, there is always a problem that we want to solve, whether it is environmental, societal or social, and entrepreneurship is the vehicle to get there. Obviously, the project must be profitable,” emphasizes Mr. Desbois.

A wind blown by the young generation

The observation behind the movement is the following: organizations can no longer be strictly concerned with their financial performance, but evaluate their performance on human and ecological levels. "This includes how we behave with our employees, what impact the company has on its community," says Ms. Labelle. "This trend is on a large scale and is expected to grow significantly in the coming years."

These changes are notably driven by the younger generation, which is much more demanding of businesses to be socially responsible. As well as largely by women. “Before, we firmly believed that there was always a cost of return on doing good,” says Mr. Desbois. “That was the traditional discourse of finance. This mentality has changed, because we realized that there were financial opportunities in doing good, without it being to the detriment of performance. We realized that a healthy planet equals a healthy economy.”

Transforming your practices

For entrepreneurs, the movement is an opportunity to change their practices to integrate social responsibility into their objectives. “Measuring impact is not a simple thing,” acknowledges Mr. Desbois. “There are methodologies that exist that are still imperfect. The more we advance in social research and in cause-and-effect links, the more we will allow entrepreneurs to have reliable data. Those who undertake this shift will have a mobilizing force and a force to attract labor and talent.”

The sooner entrepreneurs integrate impact measures into their process, the better, our two interlocutors agree. “A Harvard University study showed that it was better for entrepreneurs to put forward social and environmental benefits when they meet with lenders,” emphasizes Sévrine Labelle.

A mobilizing force

Women entrepreneurs should therefore use this as a strength, says Ms. Labelle, who has begun a shift in this direction in recent years at Femmessor. “During our last strategic reflection, we asked ourselves the question: how can we contribute to meeting the major challenges facing us? We came to the conclusion that we had the power and the responsibility as lenders to select the companies in which we decide to invest. We gave ourselves the mission of supporting women entrepreneurs in thinking about their impacts in order to help them make decisions in this direction.”

“The first instinct of female entrepreneurs is to follow the male model. I think that’s a mistake,” adds Mr. Desbois. “Women don’t approach problems in the same way, they make business decisions differently, they are more focused on taking into account future generations, their offspring. They should be rooted in who they are, have confidence and believe in their strengths.”

*Source: Centre for Talent Innovation International Survey

*Source: Centre for Talent Innovation International Survey

To learn more

Femmessor , financing (loans and share capital) and support for women entrepreneurs

SVX (Social Venture Connection) is an impact investing platform for businesses

*Source: Centre for Talent Innovation International Survey