The Impact Observatory invites Sir Ronald Cohen and Paul Polman to Impact Day

Impact Day 2024, the leading impact event for companies in Spain, will be held on October 16 in Madrid.

Invited by the Impact Observatory -an initiative of the consultancy firm Transcendent and the law firm Ontier-, two major global impact leaders will meet for the first time: Sir Ronald Cohen, known as the “father of impact investing” and president and co-founder of GSG Impact, and Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, leader of the company's transformation and a leader in business sustainability.

Both will share the stage with the objective of inspiring action and helping our country's leaders and managers “how” to move from the “business as usual” model based on the sole purpose of maximizing benefits to the model of the binomial benefit and impact where together, hand in hand, they are a much more attractive and innovative commitment to doing business.

The meeting will allow us to understand first-hand the paradigm shift driven by the new current of impactful thinking, which emerged in the early 2000s. A current that defends that impact should be the force that drives economic and business decisions, orienting them towards the greatest economic opportunity in history: the search for solutions to the great challenges we face.

Sir Ronald Cohen will highlight the importance of transparency in the impact generated by companies. Measure the impact generated in 3 main axes: the impact of your operations, the impact generated by your goods and services, and the impact on employment. Transparency has become a priority legal requirement within the framework of the new and stricter European regulation and a new standardized measurement model is already on the way.

Paul Polman, for his part, will bring us closer to a message that goes further, in his words:

”In the future, the value of any organization will be reduced to knowing only one thing: whether its existence improves the state of affairs in the world or not.”

The event, which will be held on October 16, at the Palacio de Linares, will bring together business leaders who believe in the importance of impact and work for a type of committed and competitive company, in short, one that improves the state of the world's major problems.

María Herrero; president of the Impact Observatory and partner of Transcendent, will moderate the dialogue between Polman and Cohen, highlighting that there is a different way to generate value and economic growth than “business as usual”. For Herrero, those companies with a higher purpose throughout their business culture are those with ambition and focus on economic, social and environmental benefit, generating opportunities for people, regenerating the planet and growing in a sustainable way. These companies that make a better world will be the Champions of this new era where the Impact offers the greatest economic opportunity in history at a time also marked by the greatest challenges.

With the collaboration of Telefónica, Iberia, and Amadeus, the dialogue between Sir Ronald Cohen and Paul Polman will be followed by a round table moderated by Alejandra Kindelán; president of the Spanish association of Bank (AEB) and with the participation of Elena Valderrábano- global director of sustainability at Telefónica, Teresa Parejo; director of sustainability of Iberia, Sara Ramis; director of customers, marketing and sustainability of Barcelo, Manuel Rua; Director of Sustainability of Amadeus, and Ángel Pérez Agenjo, managing partner of Transcendent.