30 May A Journey of Serendipity, Privilege and Opportunity

Written by: Max Oliva, Social Impact Management Directo@IE

This past May 23rd we celebrated the 13th edition of the Social Responsibility Forum at IE, which had Antonio Miguel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Maze, as Opening Keynote.

Antonio shared both his professional and personal story from a very intimate perspective, sharing both his passion search without hiding his vulnerabilities, which translated into a clear ambition of strengthening the social innovation conversation at a global scale.

His story started as one of Serendipity, sparked by a strong curiosity for learning, impact and change, which materialized into action after reading an article in the Economist, which spoke of the first social impact bond being launched in the UK by Social Finance. He had a clear intention of working there and through humbleness, focus and perseverance, he landed an internship, which translated into a full time job, and most importantly, into a six-year long personal journey which allowed him to discover his true passion.

His is also a story of opportunity, since he has a clear conviction that impact is the biggest opportunity of our times. There are several levers which speak to this from his perspective, which go from consumer preferences, to purpose driven millennials who want to work for responsible companies, this while being leveraged by a clear investment trend. It’s not a matter of if, but rather of when will this tipping point is going to take place and he intends to be at the forefront of this opportunity. That’s why he and his team at Maze have played a key role in launching 5 social impact bonds in Portugal and are contributing to a growing sector which accounts to more than 100 social impact bonds globally.

Antonio closed his session sharing the privilege he and many of the attendants of the SRF have enjoyed thus far. With privilege comes responsibility, but more importantly, an opportunity to leverage our learnings, connections and ambitions in order to create a more positive and sustainable future. Maze’s venture capital 40 million fund to invest in tech companies for social good is his latest project that speaks to this matter. Antonio closed his session by sharing two personal convictions as advice to the IE community: “I’ll never put professional in front of my personal life. And I won’t be able to work without a purpose.” Thank you Antonio and all who took part on the SRF this year, you are clearly walking the talk.

Link to the SRF video with the speakers: https://youtu.be/tPIH6pmiV4U