I have been attending Social Venture Circle (fka Social Venture Network) conferences for about 10 years, and they never disappoint. These conferences attract business and finance leaders of all ages to discuss how business and investing can transform our world and hasten the arrival of the “next economy”—one that provides health, happiness, and sustainable prosperity for all.

One of the highlights of the 2019 conference was a conversation between SVC Executive Director Valerie Red-Horse Mohl and Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All.

Anand’s book was difficult for many in the impact investing and social enterprise space to read. Anand called out changemakers for “falling prey to . . . a belief in ‘changing the world’ in ways that tend to keep it the same, in using the tools of hypercapitalism to soften its blows, all while refusing to question the system generating the problems.”

Presentations by Morgan Simon, Diana Marie Lee, Taij Kumarie Moteelall, Hope Lehman, Nathalie Molina Niño, Derek Razo, and many more (including me!) provided glimpses of what a truly just, sustainable, and regenerative economy and financial system would look like.

While it is true that some who call themselves impact investors are doing more harm than good by providing a fig leaf of respectability for rapacious, extractive finance, many speakers at the SVC conference delved into the hard questions and put forth radical ideas—exactly what is needed in this time of growing wealth inequality, economic insecurity, and political disengagement.

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