Andrea Zanon
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Empowering leaders & entrepreneurs with strategy, partnerships & cultural intelligence | 20+ yrs international development | andreazanon.tech | Confidence. Culture. Connection.
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Here are my takeaways from attending Warren Buffet Berkshire Annual Meetings in person
This is the 5th time I attend the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder’s meetings. These normally occur between the end of April and the beginning of May, and they take place in Omaha, Nebraska. These meetings are also known as the Woodstock of Capitalism as they attract some of the “heaviest weight” financiers in the world. There are normally about 40 thousand people attend the shareholder meeting, which takes place on Saturday and where Warren Buffet (91 years old) and Charlie Monger (98 years old), the two leaders of the Berkshire empire take questions from the participants from 9 am to 3 pm.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Education
Earth Day (April 22, 2022) is a good day for business
While I understand not all are on board with the sustainability agenda, and some like the billionaire Peter Thiel believes that Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) has been forced on us by the government, I am going to argue we should all embrace it as it is good for our lives, and it is good for business. Let’s be clear though, there are both flaws and opportunities in ESG and while regulating markets at time is necessary, we believe in market forces and ethical capitalism to lead the way.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
Andrea Zanon believes that Businesses, particularly start-ups should hire a Chief Impact Officer
No matter where you stand in the political or value ranks, I believe we are in the middle of a revolution across the business and policy circle and I am going to argue that hiring a Chief Impact Officer (CIO) will help your company stay competitive, attract top talent, and generate long term corporate and societal value.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Journal
How to build personal confidence and metal fitness
As I work with many groups that focus on accelerating personal performance, crisis management and mental fitness, I would like to share a few key lessons on personal mastery that I have practiced and learned by getting exposed to hundreds of leaders across different disciplines from finance, entrepreneurship, environment, sports, and health. As this is a very extensive topic, I am going to focus on three areas which I believe have the highest potential for short term personal mastery. These are crisis management, wellness and longevity, and extreme performance hacks and suggestions that should be taken with criticism as none of these work for everyone and I am not a doctor.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Education
ESG in the fashion industry, an opportunity for cost saving and brand strength
-Millennial and Z generation buyers are driven by ethical consumption, and this will affect the fashion industry -Investors and governments are pressing brands for greater transparency across ESG criteria as social inclusion and environmental pressure increases
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
The future of climate food? Entrepreneur should seize the opportunity
The future of climate food? Entrepreneur should seize the opportunity Did you know that the food system is responsible for a third of overall global CO2 emissions? The graph below shows carbon emission breakdown across the food chain. It is well known that the global food system is carbon intensive and uses a lot of water to bring foods to our tables. One of the striking examples that is evidence of this, is the beef production. According to different sources the pasture-to-dinner trip of beef requires about 1,910 US gallons per pound (or 15,944 liters per kilogram). This is also why a lot of the climate conscious consumers are adopting more plant-based diets. Just to clarify though, the agriculture sector in general has done great strides in becoming more efficient, and less water intensive across its entire production chain. The start-up world, including companies that are women led are transforming the food industry for the better.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
ESG Scores and Reporting and why they will force-multiply corporate growth
As predicted by many experts, ESG is rapidly going mainstream and becoming the new bottom line. This is happening because ESG considerations have become top priority both for corporate leaders as well as for the regulators. Additionally, stakeholder’s activism is putting increased pressure on both the businesses and the politicians to take actions on sustainability as well as social inclusion and job creations. As ESG becomes a more formal way to do business, so does the way we measure and report companies' efforts and actions that affect the environment and society. These actions are starting to include reporting mechanisms, disclosures and scoring indexes which are being developed by ESG scores provided, and which will in the medium term better advise investment decisions potentially reducing risk considerably.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Journal
ESG factors are being prioritized in M&A decision making: Let’s look at SPAC and ESG
Over the last 2 years investors have increasingly invested in new market trends which include SPACs (Special Acquisition Companies) and ESG (environmental, social, and governance). SPACs are Special Purpose Acquisition Companies that are created to raise capital through an IPO to acquire shares of private companies, taking them public through mergers. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) refers to three key factors to measure .
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
What is the SWIFT and why is it called the Financial Nuclear option against the Russian leadership?
What is the swift and how does it work? The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a messaging system that banks use to securely send messages and instructions to each other through a standardized system of several codes. SWIFT facilitates the sharing of efficient communication between members founded in 1973 that allows financial institutions to send money to each other. It is a Belgian headquartered cooperative which is currently used by more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions from around the world. It was originally created as a neutral consortium for banks to communicate about money transfers, trade, and general business transactions. Think of the SWIFT as the “plumbing for global finance” (CNN Business). SWIFT manages approximately 42 million messages daily for an average transaction of $ 5 trillion per day, and about $ 1.25 quadrillion dollars a year according to Money Transfer Comparison. Russia accounted for 1.5% of SWIFT transactions in 2020, according to the Financial Times. Prior to SWIFT, Telex was the only available instrument of communication to enable funds transfer between financial institutions. Telex was much less sophisticated, less secure, slower and was more depended on human interaction causing significant risk and mistakes. This system is still being used but it is neither considered safe nor efficient.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in The Swamp
The Metaverse economy and its zero net emission potential
The Covid Pandemic is here to stay, and we should all get used to stricter health and mobility laws as well as more decentralized and less polluting labor practices. As I told the Entrepreneur magazine at the beginning of the Covid crisis in 2020, “this crisis will continue to cause hardship for people, but it will also create opportunities for innovation across many industries, particularly technology and finance”. Because of Covid, since 2020 digital platforms have become “the one stop shop” for social and financial interactions. This enabled the creation of the web 3.0 revolution, ie. the decentralized version of the web which is based on extreme decentralization. While this version of the internet is more ruthless, it creates financial incentives for its participants via built-in payments in digital currencies.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
Greenwashing is a challenging emerging trend in sustainable finance and business
Most people know what whitewashing is. For example, a government oversight agency investigates a powerful politician and writes up a damaging report or article. But then the affected politician pulls some strings, calls in some favors, and the report “gets whitewashed.” In other words, even though the investigation yielded unfavorable information, the politician can skate away clean because all the worst parts of the document were conveniently altered or deleted. A modern version of whitewashing that has emerged recently is called “greenwashing.”
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Earth
Green and sustainable bonds could reach 2 trillion dollars in 2022
Brief Background: One of the winners of the 2021 COP26 climate summit was Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) finance, as capital markets and the private sector start playing a larger role to transform the global economy to a more socially just and climate friendly one. One of the ESG tools that is becoming mainstream, is Green, Sustainable and Social Bonds. These are debt instruments like the traditional bonds issued to raise capital in the capital market. However, the capital raised is used to fund assets and projects that have a positive environmental or social impact. The first Green Bond was issued by the World Bank in 2008 as the global green movement started to take off. Since then, green, social, and sustainability bonds expanded rapidly driven by stronger environmental legislation, increasing awareness and growing interest from the investment community.
By Andrea Zanon4 years ago in Journal
