Impact Investing and Collaboration: Insights from the „Business of Impact“ Conference

Full rooms, inspiring discussions, panels, and many steps through the hilly, beautiful Lisbon — this is what this year’s trip and participation at the „Business of Impact“ conference, organized by Impact Europe, looked like. The Macedonian delegation, consisting of Irina Janevska (ARNO) and Vera Vardziska (Sava Insurance), took part in these important European processes, sharing local experiences and connecting with leading European foundations, corporations, and impact funds. This trip and the study activities were part of the regional project „Invest for Change“,  funded by the European Union and dedicated to the development of social entrepreneurship and the impact ecosystem in the Western Balkans,

Activities began one day before the conference, on September 14, with a special study visit to the Portuguese impact ecosystem organized by the Maze Foundation and the Ageas Foundation. The visit offered practical insights into how philanthropic capital, impact investments, and cross-sector partnerships can strengthen social innovation ecosystems. Participants heard direct experiences from the two foundations, as well as from inspiring impact enterprises changing the world through acts:

• Cycling Without Age = an initiative that provides older adults with free rides via special bicycles and provides daily contact with nature and the community as a fight against loneliness.

• Ubbu = a modern educational platform for children that changes educational standards through learning future skills.

The conference (September 15-16) took place in the picturesque historic center of Lisbon (Largo Trindade Coelho- the venues of Brotéria, the Casa Ásia museum, and Santa Casa da Misericórdia), moving through three main thematic tracks: 

1. The first track was „Unblocking Collaboration“, focusing on how to break down barriers and establish productive partnerships across different sectors. The workshops showed that individual companies cannot solve systemic challenges on their own without shared tools and aligned value chains.
2. The second track focused on „Just Energy Transition“, providing an in-depth analysis of how declarative commitments can be translated into practice by aligning investments, technology, and people for a stable future.
3. The third track was „Impact Infrastructure“, which encompasses connecting people with data and platforms, while the event served as a great opportunity to get acquainted with digital solutions, such as the SIAE platform for tracking social investments across Europe, which is already available for use at https://siae.impacteurope.net/.

Through the presented data, the strength of the Impact Europe community was highlighted—a network uniting a wide range of stakeholders, from foundations investing catalytic capital, to corporations embedding impact into global supply chains, down to impact funds and institutions. The global focus of this network monitors over 100 billion euros in social capital flows across 160 countries, with approximately 80% of the capital deployed in Europe. ARNO became a member of Impact Europe thanks to the „Invest for Change“ project and looks forward to all future networking opportunities and annual events where Macedonia has the chance to attend.

For ARNO and Sava Insurance, presence at an event of this scale and with this theme is confirmation that local steps and initiatives are part of a much broader European vision for fair and sustainable changes. We believe that true transformations happen only when the civil sector and the business community work together with vision and professionalism, while continuing to learn and create valuable partnerships. Within the project’s framework, through various activities, ARNO aims to increasingly engage the private sector to support the development of impact entrepreneurship.