On June 8th, more than a hundred of our clients, partners and friends based in Paris gathered for a small cocktail reunion at the wonderful Musée de la Vie Romantique. A look back at this joyous evening organised to share about and reflect on our collective activities.
An inspiring place for the Ksapa community
1819 – Creating a space for innovation amid a general societal context of withdrawal
Around 1819-1820, the political context was one of withdrawal. Societal demands were violently repressed. The achievements of the French Revolution of 1789 were being called into question one after the other by the government of the time. The intellectual and artistic elite needed spaces to express themselves and explore new ways of expression corresponding to the needs of the time. It is in this context that the Parisian district, below the Butte Montmartre, known as “New Athens” began developing, as many writers, actors, musicians and painters settled there.
Eugène Delacroix, George Sand, Alexandre Dumas, Frederic Chopin, Victor Hugo, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin… very quickly the district was in vogue, and became a centre for the intellectual and cultural life of Paris. The Musée de la Vie Romantique is itself a former house with artistic salons, facilitating dialogue between musicians, collectors, masters of art, restorers, and a music-loving public, to explore new musical, pictorial or literary forms of expression.
2019 – Creating a global platform for innovation in the context of the triple societal, environmental and social crisis
Ksapa (Sioux): wisdom, reason, discernment
Ksapa was established in 2019, and is among the very first companies to choose the status of a ‘company with a mission’. Its approaches are based on the founders’ conviction of the need to create new broader, global spaces to facilitate the exploration of concrete solutions, brought to scale, and to facilitate our economies to adapt to the social and environmental challenges we face today, in a world with increasing inequalities and climate and environmental crises.
The Towards 2030 report published at the beginning of 2020 summarizes the vision of the Ksapa community: it is by leveraging finance and digital technologies that it is possible to amplify impact and scale up programs aiming to accelerate the transformation of economic actors, enabling them to adapt to new paradigms such as the search for impact, the just transition, and respecting human rights.
By bringing together multidisciplinary teams and fostering partnerships with experts specializing in different domains, Ksapa has built an international community that enables it to carry out projects and missions in an international context for a growing number of clients. The Ksapa model is based on the following values:
- Excellence: we always strive for high quality collective and individual performance in all our activities and for intellectual honesty and integrity – while in the workplace and while working on behalf of the organization
- Adaptability: ability to adapt and evolve is an essential quality to participate in the major transformations of our increasingly changing world
- Respect: we value respect of others – of their roles and responsibilities as well as of their opinions and contributions; respect of commitments to each other and to external partners. We encourage diversity and inclusion
- Think big with humility: we believe remaining humble & in learning attitude is key to strengthen the way our solutions are designed and deployed in the best Systemic, Sustainable, Scalable, and Replicable way we genuinely can
- Passion for social change: we commit to improving the lives of the less fortunate while respecting our planet; and putting the collective ahead of the individual
Today, 4,000+ decision-makers from major economic and financial groups around the world, as well as public and civil society actors, receive and consult each month the resources and initiatives supported by Ksapa about human rights, climate, circular economy, sustainable finance / ESG, impact and sustainable development / CSR. Ksapa operates from 3 offices in Paris, London, and New York with various programs and missions taking place in North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia.
An evening organized in three parts to serve the current community
The first part of the evening was dedicated to the Ksapa initiative – a combination of ESG , Digital technology , Finance , Human Rights, Climate, Agronomy, Responsible Supply Chains, Development, and other topics, which constitute the DNA of our organisation.
In the presence of the heads of Ksapa’s Paris, London and New York offices, Isabelle Baillet – former executive of Société Générale and member of Ksapa’s Mission Committee – shared about our work, and how Ksapa’s mission-oriented vision is achieved through its various consulting, investment and advocacy activities, in line with the public commitments expressed.
A second highlight was the fantastic piano recital by the Berlin-based pianist Sacha Hladiy, musically inspired by the concept of extinction first, then the softening power of the sun!
Lastly, the location offered a great opportunity to gather and connect over drinks, finally not constrained to digital formats – also representative of the interactions we foster and wish to maintain between our teams, customers, and our entire ecosystem.
Three takeaways from our interactions
The interactions and discussions confirmed, in the spirit of the place that hosted this cocktail of the Ksapa Paris 2022 community, the following elements:
– Feedback from decision-makers and operational staff is very consistent across all sectors and countries of intervention: Ksapa’s consulting activities are at the forefront of regulations and sectoral best practices on issues of human rights, sustainable finance, energy transition and circular economy; and its portfolio of digital and financial solutions which allow for the deployment of concrete solutions at scale, at economical cost, brings together a unique set of businesses and skills and added value to the design and implementation of programs with clients.
– Ksapa has established itself as an international platform of reference for designing and implementing programs in different operational environments – for example, replicating a program to transform the agricultural sector for the benefit of smallholder farmers in 5 countries in Africa, and 3 strategic Asian countries
– Ksapa has a unique ability to bring together actors from different worlds in a credible and constructive dialogue. This allows us to combine the interests of complex ecosystems and to organize programs that bring together different stakeholders – industrial sectors, financial players, NGOs, national and international public authorities, local players – in order to make concrete progress on issues of energy transition and inclusion.
In line with this commitment and desire to unite, Ksapa has marked its connection to the arts and culture. These human achievements represent what encourages us to work towards inclusion, the fight against inequalities, and the fundamental environmental challenges of our time. It is indeed Arts and Culture that bring humanity together in its most accomplished, shared and authentic achievements. The piano recital by the Berlin pianist Sacha Hladiy was a perfect illustration of this, offering the members of the Ksapa community a recital in two parts around the themes of extinction and the sun: melancholy, disbelief and revolt in front of the 6th extinction in progress, then celebration of the sunlight that pushes everyone to want to outdo themselves, to redirect themselves.
To become part of and follow the Ksapa community
Other events will follow in London, New York, online through our webinars, and of course always and again in Paris. It’s still easiest to follow our news and developments by subscribing to our newsletter here: Newsletter – Sustainability / ESG Consulting, Impact Investment, Advocacy (ksapa.org)
Author of several books and resources on business, sustainability and responsibility. Working with top decision makers pursuing transformational changes for their organizations, leaders and industries. Working with executives improving resilience and competitiveness of their company and products given their climate and human right business agendas. Connect with Farid Baddache on Twitter at @Fbaddache.
