"We need to redefine success."- Lara Viada, Partner of Creas Impacto

Lara Viada, partner of the 'impact manager' Creas: "We need to redefine"

In 2008, Creas Impact launched the first vehicle; in 2018, it created the first registered impact fund; and, in 2020, it became the first Bcorp fund.

By Rubén Fernández-Costa for El Español

 

Lara Viada is a specialist in projects with a purpose, but she had to seek her own. "I'm from Madrid, my mother is Catalan and my father from  Madrid and I lived in Madrid until I was twenty," she quickly sums up. "I did Business Studies, but in my last year I had no idea what to do".

Viada thought the solution would come from the activity itself: movement generates movement. "I thought about doing some volunteering work but I didn't know which one, so I bought a ticket to India". Eventually there she connected with the NGO "of Dominique Lapierre [the well-known author of The City of Joy], and I stayed in an orphanage for children with disabilities".

That experience changed her: "it definitely impacted me: my eldest daughter is named India", and she remained connected to the idea of impact beyond profit. After a brief corporate experience in Madrid (L'Oreal), she explains how "I spent those years, from 21 to 25, waking up in the morning and thinking 'selling beauty products doesn't fulfil me'. I wanted to dedicate myself to the world of social impact, but it was not easy, because it is a small, little known sector, in which I had no experience...".

"All those well-known institutions," she continues, "like the UN or the World Bank... I saw them very far away, and many of the positions I found online said they required a master's degree in International Relations, so I decided to go to the USA and study: in Washington I studied at Johns Hopkins SAIS, this put me in the hub of large multinationals, I loved it and saw the whole sector passing by there".

At that time, she adds, "impact investment began to emerge in different countries as an evolution of microfinance from Yunus' book on microcredits and it was beginning to be seen that, in addition to loans, access to education and health was needed. I could add value there," she continues.

Viada began "to contact impact funds, but as I had a corporate profile it was difficult for me. Finally, GBF (2010) was convinced that what I had learned to help hairdressing chains could be useful to help SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and I went with them to agro-industries in Peru".

It is after this stay when she becomes a "specialist in impact measurement and in helping companies: I learned this with many quinoa agro-exporters in Bolivia, cocoa, fruits or superfoods [which was starting to be talked about], from sustainable forest exploitation and tourism. They were not really technological projects but they were innovative, there I could see how the lives of millions of people in the entire Andean region could be improved". In a short time, "I went from helping companies to the investment team".

"When I returned to Spain, impact investment was nonexistent," she says. After some previous experience ("I started managing a social entrepreneurs accelerator and a period in the Sustainable Business Group with Barroso, the founder of Triodos Bank in Spain") she started her project in Creas.

"It's an exciting project. Luis and Javi [referring to Luis Berruete and Pedro Javier Armentia, the founders], are two school friends from Zaragoza who launched it in 2008. They started with a foundation, then with a small fund and now since 2018 I joined, thinking that we were going to launch 15 million and finally we managed to get 30 million euros".

"In recent years we have dedicated ourselves to preaching about impact investment in Spain and since we started we have invested in about 20 of these companies, helping these companies we support to grow. We are at a key point right now, because we are setting up a manager with four partners to launch new funds with the same philosophy". The new goal? "70-100 million euros," she shares.

"We want an impact manager that can continue to grow, position ourselves and be able to launch other funds [she mentions culture, for example] and in other countries [especially Latin America]. There is a lot to do in terms of regeneration, blended finance, we are very excited," she explains.

One of her obsessions is "to include more science and impact measurement in order to make decisions of the type 'how many tons of CO2 are enough per euro invested'. Something very important in the future will be that we refine our knowledge on the subject".

 

What is impact investment for you? Where do you operate?

 

What drives us is to generate a positive social and environmental impact. Our specialization is in Spain, 80% of our investments are here, 20% in Europe.

 

What type of companies do you support?

 

We work with startups, specifically with scaleups, we look for projects with a trajectory and with the capacity to multiply, but with a theory of change, that is, they have identified a serious social and environmental problem, and are capable of measuring their impact. We work with profitable companies, helping them to grow and professionalize.

 

Some specific companies with which you already work, that have a social focus?

 

In relation to empowering people, we have in education companies like Trilema, a new pedagogical model to reduce school failure. Or Ironhack, an international technology school. In the care sector also Qida, for the care of chronic and dependent patients in their home; another example is Baluwo, a platform for migrants that helps them buy goods for their families, and to make the remittance process more efficient. We are also in areas such as circular economy, electronics, fashion, mobility, solar panels and agriculture...

 

How do you measure impact?

 

Science is in the process of defining indicators, as the sector advances, these improve, but there are already transversal indicators by sectors. But, what is ” impact”? In education there is beginning to be more consensus on how to measure it, in the environment and with respect to climate change there are the science based targets, which are clear objectives that science has set to reduce climate change.

 

But, is the impact that can be made always quantifiable?

 

We still need to develop measurements, as I was telling you. For example, in relation to school failure, it's not just about passing, but measuring the child's well-being, his mental health, that his results in a broad sense are better.

 

Do you share your results?

 

We try to publish as much as possible. I am a believer that the sector is made by everyone, that's why we are in many places. It's about consolidating and standardizing measurement. If I invest in an education project that is having an impact, I like to know others that are as well.

 

What level of profitability are you looking for?

 

We are an impact fund, in the first fund we have been less aggressive in terms of profitability, because the most important thing is the impact and a very high goal in terms of profitability would push us to not invest where there is impact. The impact is a lever of value creation, and it is a competitive advantage. We are talking about patient capital, and about social transformations, like mental health, seniors , education, risk of exclusion, in no case do we want to do something strictly for economic benefits. In the new fund we are going to seek a return of around 12-15% annually.

 

In your experience, is it easier for you to raise funds now than a decade ago?

 

I think the fact that there is an awakening of consciousness is a wonderful thing, I have been pursuing it for many years, but it is true that there is a certain inevitable tendency to want to do what we have always done and call it impact. In general, everyone has good intentions, but you can't just do the same thing, this should not just be an added layer. We are not on the right path regarding climate change and increasing inequalities. We have to change things and change our “chip”. We have to redefine success.

 

In what sense do you affirm that we should rethink the definition of success?

 

If success continues to be just a matter of profitability, we are lost. It is an awakening of consciousness, because what makes us happy is not money, it is other things. And I think that young people are going to realize this, not less.

 

Link to the article: https://www.elespanol.com/enclave-ods/referentes/20220824/lara-viada-gestora-impacto-creas-replantear-definicion/696680552_0.html