Steven is a serial entrepreneur and impact investor. Working with both social, business and financial actors, his focus is very much on the sweet spot where they come together.
Business background: Steven co-founded S&V Management Consultants in 1992, specializing in Supply Chain and Operations Strategy. He sold his company in 2008 to Mahindra Satyam, an Indian company, remaining in charge as CEO.
From 1992 to 2011, Steven was also a senior researcher and lecturer at the Vlerick Business School.
On Impact Investing: Steven is co-founder and chair of Impact Finance Belgium (IFB). He is a board member of GSG Impact, the global organisation striving to integrate impact in every financial decision and of which IFB is the Belgian representative.
Till mid-2022, Steven was chair of Impact Europe, a leading European membership organisation helping foundations and impact investors to explore and grow their impact strategies in Europe and beyond. From 2018 to 2020, he was the CEO of Impact Europe.
Since 2015, Steven has been chairman of Kampani, a social impact investment fund, unlocking the potential of entrepreneurial farming in the South.
In 2019, he joined the board of the Impact Investment Institute, the leading institute on impact investing in the UK.
Steven is also an active impact investor himself and a member of the board and investment committee of multiple (impact) funds.
Other responsibilities: Steven is a co-founder and board member of Iristick since 2017, developing, producing and commercialising smart safety glasses for Industry and Society (Health for All).
He is also a Board member of The Institute of Tropical Medicine and Chair of G1000, the Belgian platform for democratic innovation.
“My background is primarily in business, I’ve been working with corporates for nearly 25 years and later with social entrepreneurs. I’ve seen over the years how many of these organisations have been embracing the ‘sustainability’-journey, also through innovative business models. But I also noticed that financiers were important decision makers in defining the future of these organisations. Realising that finance could be a driving force in creating change I started to steer towards impact finance more than 10 years ago.”
“My first experience with ‘money as a force for good’ was more on a European, and even global level. When shifting back my attention to Belgium some years ago, I could see great examples, but many of them were often under the radar and isolated. Moreover, the different capital providers such as philanthropists, impact investors and mainstream providers of sustainable finance were operating in silo’s. At the same time, I observed that in some neighbouring countries, where they created a go-to place for the different financial players looking for impact, they benefited greatly from this coming together. Inspired by these examples, I thought Belgium could also benefit from an impact finance community as a way to join forces to create more impact.”
“My most important learning about impact finance is that you best start from the societal challenge you want to address, from the position of the potential beneficiary. And then re-engineer back to the required business model and most appropriate financing tool. This often results in inclusive and impactful solutions. Finance as a means to an end.
I also think, and hope, that bringing together the Belgian capital providers in this impact ecosystem can accelerate the amount and type of impact capital we need to create more sustainable solutions. The diversity of players in this eco-system might create certain tensions, but in the end we need them all to build a thriving impact economy and an inclusive, well-functioning (and safe) society.
