RESPOND – Impact Accelerator for Responsible Businesses

The BMW Foundation will share their experience of running the first year of RESPOND, and highlight some of the achievements made, the learnings and share some of the unexpected challenges overcome in the first year of operation.

Featuring Heba Aguib (Chief Executive RESPOND), the panel style event will explore the philosophy of RESPOND, and discuss the impact and power of sustainable business models with startup participant Allison Dring (CEO & Co-Founder, Made of Air) and key coach Amanda Feldman (Engagement Lead SDG Impact, UNDP).

Heba Aguib, will be sharing about the reasons why the Foundation launched the Respond Accelerator programme and some of the key learnings after one year of operation. She joined the BMW Foundation in July 2019 with the ambition to strengthen the relationship between Tech4Good and investors to make a positive difference. She is also a medical technology expert as a member of the Digital Arabia Network and played a major role in establishing the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation’s Aswan Heart Research Center in Egypt. Heba studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where she received her PhD in Microtechnology and Medical Device Engineering in 2010. Heba believes that technology can play a crucial role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

Alison Dring will be speaking about her experiences as a participant of the accelerator programme and her business MadeofAir which is a carbon negative materials company. Made of Air GmbH have invented a thermoplastic compound so high in atmospheric carbon that it is a carbon negative material- meaning it stores more CO2 than is produces when making it. The material enables products to become engineered carbon sinks.

Amanda Feldman will be speaking about her experience as a business mentor on the programme and addressing the challenges of measuring and reporting impacts. She is a BMW Foundation UK Responsible Leader who focuses on maximising impact with funds, policymakers, corporations and entrepreneurs — bringing experience through Heliotropy, the Impact Management Project, Bridges Fund Management and Volans. She is the Engagement Lead on Standards for UNDP’s SDG Impact initiative; serves as a Non-Executive Board Member at Bethnal Green Ventures; contributes to the Independent Panel for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG); and advises on impact with RESPOND, MAZE and the Predistribution Initiative.

With breakout groups and a chance to discuss the power and impact of sustainable business models, this event should not be missed.

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RESPOND, we work with business leaders & innovators across the globe to accelerate sustainable business models, drive innovation, and empower responsible leadership-

We believe in accelerating sustainable business models that combine profit with purpose and through scaling up, they maximize their impact.