Contacts
Info
ALAQA explores the structural, strategic, and human dimensions of relationships in the world of capital — particularly for those seeking to finance solutions in a complex, interdependent world. Each episode...
show more
ALAQA explores the structural, strategic, and human dimensions of relationships in the world of capital — particularly for those seeking to finance solutions in a complex, interdependent world. Each episode unpacks a relationship that matters between: - investors and founders - different assets in a portfolio - public and private capital - next-gen inheritors and established wealth - theory of change and deal execution We speak with investors, ecosystem builders, capital allocators and change agents working at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and systems thinking.
show less
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
3 NOV 2026 · Today, I’m joined by Delilah Rothenberg, Co-Founder and Executive Director of PDI, The Predistribution Initiative.Delilah brings nearly two decades of experience in finance across global asset classes, with a focus on both public and private equities in mature and emerging markets. Prior to PDI, she spent over a decade working with private equity investors, lenders, and project developers, supporting financing structures and responsible and impact investing strategies across complex market contexts.Today, she also holds multiple advisory and board roles, including with the Fairness Foundation or the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures, which she also co-founded.Across her work, she focuses on how financial systems can better reflect real-world impacts and contribute to more equitable economic outcomes.
Key topics:
- Predistribution — why we need to rethink how value, risk and ownership are distributed from the start, rather than relying on redistribution afterwards.
- Economic inequality as financial risk — how inequality can affect companies, portfolios and the wider economy, including through wages, debt, market concentration and externalities.
- Rethinking capital and investment — the need to value human, social and natural capital alongside financial capital, and what this could mean for investors and asset owners.
- Stakeholder participation and governance — how workers, communities and other stakeholders could have a more meaningful role in corporate decision-making and help investors navigate complex systemic risks.
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:00:57Origin & Perspective - 00:02:26Deep Dive - 00:09:14Contrarian Thoughts - 00:36:40Your go-to person - 00:38:46Flash Round - 00:40:30
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
27 OCT 2026 · Today, I’m joined by Danielle Turkov, founder and CEO of Think-Film, whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, culture, advocacy, and systems change. Through film and impact campaigns, she works to bring stories and solutions into the mainstream, not simply to create visibility, but to build movements, shift narratives, and generate real-world change.This is Danielle’s second time on Alaqa, because the first conversation was simply not finished yet!We talk about the growing difficulty of building narratives in an increasingly polarised world, and how the role of imagination in times of polycrisis is so critical, including for finance practitioners. We also dive into her new film production fund and its attempt to rethink the relationship between impact investing, philanthropy, and commercial finance, treating impact campaigns not as an add-on, but as part of the investment itself.Across the conversation, Danielle makes a powerful case for thinking differently about capital and creativity: from using films to amplify solutions and create “upstream effects” across entire investment portfolios, to designing new structures where profit, philanthropy, and systems change can coexist. Ultimately, this is a conversation about imagination, , and the courage — or perhaps the lucidity — to build something new before it becomes too late.
Key topics:
- Storytelling can be systems infrastructure. Films can do more than raise awareness: they can influence behaviour, build movements, accelerate the adoption of solutions, and create effects that ripple across markets and systems.
- Impact needs to be built into the investment model, not bolted on afterwards. Danielle’s production fund experiments with making the impact campaign a dedicated line item within the film’s budget — challenging the binary between “philanthropy” and “investment.”
- The stories we tell shape the space available for democracy. Culture is part of the frontline of defending freedom, and that financing diverse, independent stories is ultimately about preserving nuance, choice, debate, and social cohesion.
- Scaling impact requires letting go of ownership. Rather than holding tightly to ideas, Danielle believes in sharing them, co-creating, and allowing others to take ownership — because the goal is for good ideas to travel much further than one person or organisation could take them alone.
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:30Deep Dive - 00:02:41Flash Round / Wrap Up - 00:43:16
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
20 OCT 2026 · Welcome to Alaqa, a podcast about the relationships shaping systems, capital, and the climate transition.Today, I’m joined by Yonca Braeckman, Founder and CEO of Impact Shakers, an impact ecosystem investor tackling societal and environmental challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship.At Impact Shakers, Yonca builds and backs mission-driven ventures and underrepresented founders, working across Europe’s startup and innovation ecosystems. She has played a role in shaping the Belgian and broader European tech ecosystem, while also advising and mentoring hundreds of startups.Recognised for her contribution to the field, she was listed among the Top 100 most influential women in the European startup and VC ecosystem for 4 consecutive years. Often describing herself as a “misfit champion,” Yonca brings a perspective rooted in challenging norms around who gets access to capital and opportunity.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
Key topics:
- Building Impact Shakers as an ecosystem — from investing in founders to creating partnerships, infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration across Europe.
- The power of relationships in impact investing — and why weaving connections, rather than optimising for efficiency, is central to creating systemic change.
- Building differently in a world of polycrisis — from challenging the separation between work and personal values to focusing on “boring” systems and the entrepreneurs creating solutions for societal and environmental challenges.
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:45Origin & Perspective - 00:03:39Contrarian Thought: 00:27:21Yonca's Go-To Person: 00:29:32Flash Round - 00:31:39
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
14 OCT 2026 · Today, I’m joined by the Director of Community at Impact Europe - which calls itself The Investing for Impact Network. Impact Europe brings together Europe’s most committed impact actors: capital providers (foundations, corporates, impact funds, asset managers, financial institutions) and the ecosystem shapers who support them (networks, service providers, academics, research centres).Alongside this, she contributes to expanding access to capital for underrepresented founders as a member of the Investment Committee at Impact Shakers, and serves on the board of Aqcelerator, the corporate venture arm of Aquafin.In this episode, we explore Inès’s journey into impact investing and her work at Impact Europe, the growing need to better connect different sources of capital, and the challenges of moving beyond siloed approaches. We also discuss the limits of the traditional VC model, the importance of patience and collaboration, and why empathy, trust, and a shared objective are essential for contributing to systems change.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
Key topics:
- The evolution of impact investing in Europe and the growing interest in climate and impact, alongside the challenges facing institutional investors and family offices.
- Orchestrating capital for systems change — bringing foundations, investors, corporates, and other actors together around shared priorities rather than working in silos.
- Rethinking investment models — why VC cannot be the answer to every social or environmental challenge, and why patient capital, fund-of-funds models, and alternative ownership structures matter.
- Building trust and collaboration across different stakeholders — the importance of empathy, shared goals, and understanding different perspectives, while keeping the focus on meaningful impact rather than impact metrics for their own sake.
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:28Origin & Perspective - 00:02:49Commenting on Benjamin's Contrarian Thought: 32:14Contrarian Thought: 00:34:53Inès's Go-To Person: 00:35:53Flash Round - 00:37:06
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
29 SEP 2026 · Today, we welcome Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO of Metabolic, an impact entrepreneur and systems thinker working at the forefront of sustainability and the circular economy.Eva founded Metabolic in 2012 with a mission to help transition the global economy towards a fundamentally sustainable and circular state. Through her work with governments, businesses, and NGOs around the world, she has helped turn complex environmental challenges into practical strategies, technologies, and scalable solutions.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.Key topics:
- Designing investments for systems change and moving beyond individual ventures to understand the wider system, its barriers, actors, and conditions for success.
- Capital orchestration and investment design: connecting different types of capital to the right needs, sequencing financing, and calibrating risk and reward.
- Place-based, relational approaches to change and building trust and connections between communities, stakeholders, investors, and opportunities.
- 12 years of learning at Metabolic: evolving from sustainability projects and systems analysis toward a more integrated approach to mobilizing capital and shaping the future
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:02:52Origin & Perspective - 00:05:06Flash Round - 00:35:25
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
17 SEP 2026 · Today, I’m joined by Nicolas Muller, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Partnerships at Blue Earth Capital, a dedicated impact asset manager investing globally across social and environmental impact. With a background spanning traditional private equity, emerging markets, and impact investing, Nicolas works at a particularly interesting point in the impact ecosystem: building the market for impact secondaries and exploring how liquidity can help impact investing grow, mature, and ultimately become more mainstream.At Blue Earth Capital, Nicolas focuses on investing in and alongside impact funds, while developing a secondary market designed to unlock liquidity for investors and fund managers without losing sight of the impact mission. His conviction is that secondaries can do more than provide an exit: they can bring new investors into impact, give existing investors the ability to recycle capital, and give companies and managers the time they need to pursue long-term value creation.In this conversation, we unpack what it really takes to build an efficient impact market, from the tensions between impact investing and traditional asset management, to the role of dedicated impact players, the different forms of secondary transactions, and the question of whether impact should influence how we value a company. We also explore a particularly important tension: how can we create liquidity without undermining the patient capital that many impact businesses need to scale?Ultimately, Nicolas makes the case for looking beyond the individual investment and thinking about additionality at the level of the market itself, asking not only where capital can create impact, but how investors can help make impact investing more investable, scalable, and resilient as an asset class.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
Key topics:
- Dedicated impact investors need strong mission and cultural alignment
- Impact secondaries can unlock liquidity and attract new investors
- Patient capital helps impactful companies scale without premature exitsCatalytic investors should help build scalable impact markets
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:02:00Origin & Perspective - 00:03:32Contrarian Thoughts: 00:37:07Flash Round - 00:39:15
Follow us on: https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcast
Designed & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
8 SEP 2026 · Today, I’m joined by Astrid Leyssens, founder of We Are Impact Collective, where she mentors, advises, and supports wealth holders, investors, and pioneers on their impact journeys.At We Are Impact Collective, Astrid works at the intersection of impact investing, systemic change, and collaborative innovation, helping individuals, family offices, and organizations turn ambition into actionable strategies. Through initiatives like Impact Into Play and the Explorers Club, she creates spaces for new ideas, unconventional collaborations, and long-term thinking around capital and transformation.As a seasoned board and investment committee member, Astrid brings a strong systems perspective to how capital is deployed — bridging philanthropy, sustainable finance, and business strategy to help drive meaningful social and environmental progress.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
Key topics:
- Investors as bridges, not permanent owners or controllers
- Urgency, long-term thinking, and differentiated investment timelines
- Wealth holders collaborating to accelerate systemic capital allocation
- Rethinking wealth, legitimacy, participation, and the meaning of enough
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:24Origin & Perspective - 00:02:54Flash Round - 00:32:01
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcast
Designed & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
1 SEP 2026 · Today, we are joined by Suzanne Rosman, a business development professional currently working at PYM, bringing international experience across startups and corporates.Suzanne’s work spans business development and organisational operations within the impact investing space, shaped by experience working with funds and navigating different investment and operating environments.Alongside her professional work, she is deeply engaged in themes such as female entrepreneurship, impact investing, and emerging ecosystems, including LATAM startups and Web3 communities. Her perspective is also shaped by a curiosity for learning across geographies and cultures, with personal ties to Colombia and New Zealand, and a strong focus on people, connection, and continuous learning through experience.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
Key topics:
- Impact investing as a learning journey, not simply a financial product.
- Peer-to-peer relationships can reduce fear and unlock capital.
- Private wealth should flow towards solutions society needs.
- Investors need to confront the cost of inaction.
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:51Origin & Perspective - 00:03:39Contrarian Thoughts - 00:33:40Flash Round - 00:38:10
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcast
Designed & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
12 AUG 2026 · Today I'm joined by Suzanne Rosman, a business development professional currently working at PYM, bringing international experience across startups and corporates. Suzanne's work spans business development and organizational operations within the impact investing space, shaped by experience working with funds and navigating different investment and operating environment.Alongside her professional work, she's deeply engaged in themes such as female entrepreneurship, impact investing in emerging ecosystems, including LATAM startups and Web3 communities. Her perspective is also shaped by curiosity for learning across geographies and cultures, with personal ties to Colombia and New Zealand, and a strong focus on people, connection, and continuous learning through experience.
This special playlist is developed in partnership with ChangeNOW. It brings together conversations with fund managers who presented on stage during Funds for Change, and with investors, operators, and thinkers navigating the tensions of impact, climate, and finance.
4 AUG 2026 · Today, I'm joined by James Burrows and Philipp Essl, managing directors at Better Society Capital. At BSC, James currently looks after the social lending team which includes work on blended finance, ethical banks, and social outcomes partnerships. He explores how capital can better connect with communities. He's also building out the practice looking at investing for more transformative systems change. Philipp focuses on social impact measurement and management across Better Society Capital's investment process and portfolio.He's passionate about using impact strategy and evidence to drive social investment decisions and tackle pressing social challenges. Together, their work reflects a broader effort to rethink how finance can support resilient communities and more equitable economic systems.
Key points:
- Why relationships shape resilient systems
- How place brings systems investing to life
- Why urgency requires reflection, not reaction
- How trust enables transformational investing
Episode breakdown:Intro - 00:00:00Welcome - 00:01:43Origin & Perspective - 00:03:07Tensions - 00:33:33Flash Round - 00:40:10
Follow us on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0Po2mXWyAelyE91jSa5flbApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alaqa/id1838909986
https://linktr.ee/alaqapodcastDesigned & Hosted by Imène MaharziProduced by Taisa Echterhoff
ALAQA explores the structural, strategic, and human dimensions of relationships in the world of capital — particularly for those seeking to finance solutions in a complex, interdependent world. Each episode...
show more
ALAQA explores the structural, strategic, and human dimensions of relationships in the world of capital — particularly for those seeking to finance solutions in a complex, interdependent world. Each episode unpacks a relationship that matters between: - investors and founders - different assets in a portfolio - public and private capital - next-gen inheritors and established wealth - theory of change and deal execution We speak with investors, ecosystem builders, capital allocators and change agents working at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and systems thinking.
show less
Information
| Author | ALAQA Podcast |
| Organization | ALAQA Podcast |
| Categories | Business |
| Website | www.spreaker.com |
| - |
Copyright 2026 - Spreaker Inc. an iHeartMedia Company
