The Weasel Coffee, Time & Innovation

When did a coffee simply made stop becoming a morning beverage or a drink to enjoy with friends? It seems that the choice of coffee has proliferated, with Caffè Americano,  Caffè Latte, Cappuccino, Macchiato, Double skim soy latte, and the thousands of other flavors. Then we have the continuous search like Holy Grail search for the ultimate coffee beans,

  • Tanzania Peaberry Coffee
  • Hawaii Kona Coffee
  • Nicaraguan Coffee
  • Sumatra Mandheling Coffee
  • Sulawesi Toraja Coffee
  • Mocha Java Coffee
  • Ethiopian Harrar Coffee
  • Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Coffee
  • Guatemalan Antigua Coffee
  • Kenya AA Coffee

Let’s not forget Kopi Luwak made famous by Jack Nicholson in the movie The Bucket List. Kope Luwak is a coffee bean consumed by a palm civet (toddy cat) who eats the beans and then runs them through its bowels only to excrete them,  to create the unique blend.

I am sure there is someone out there who is developing a coffee bean that is grown shaded in the upper Andes or Himalyas, or on top of a warehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These beans are blessed every day by a Monk, Priest, Shaman, Rabbi, and beautiful music is played to make them grow in perfect harmony. After that, special hand held lasers analyse all the beans to check that they are ripe for picking. Following that a robot harvests specific ripe beans, which are fed to Panda Bears who swallow the beans and then re-appear with their daily digestion. These beans are then cleaned and dried for 7 days in special drying room that maintain the right temperature through solar heating. They are then roasted in a clean room where everyone is wearing surgical clothes and masks so no contaminants come in contact with the beans, during the roasting process. Finally, after the roasting, the beans are ground by hand in a granite mortar and pestle, by Asian women over 45, to achieve the perfect pressure. Finally, a chemical analysis of the ground coffee is made,  and then the coffee is brewed with the special Belgium Kings Court Coffee Syphon, to bring out the special flavour. Cost 100 US Dollars a cup, but the cup is not paper or plastic. True innovation.

If you ask any of the regulars at the Apollo Cafe from the movie Frankie and Johnny or any authentic person who has figured what life should be and the importance of humour, taking the time and empathy, they will all say. “Tastes like coffee” describing this unique blend mentioned above,  “but it is missing a soul. Frankie give me another cup of the house brew in a normal cup.”

I don’t share this constant obsession with trying to find “perfection or innovation only for innovation sake or just dying rich as a goal”. The authentic company you share, the time you take and being in the moment is what matters. This brings out the true flavours of conversation and company. Constant innovation and change just to be different, does not. Take the time today to call someone and just share a funny story or joke. Endlessly rewarding. 

Enjoy Frankie and Johnny

November 8, 2017 2007 No Comments on The Weasel Coffee, Time & Innovation

TBLI 20th Anniversary-What Now?

As you can see TBLI made it big on Times Square, thanks to Nasdaq.

Our 20th Anniversary, last week, was a great success. I want to thank all those who attended and supported us. It was a joy engaging with so many thoughtful, passionate, committed, generous, thought leaders. I was particularly touched by this testimonial.

“I admit that slavefreetrade did not attend with high hopes of making impact, as the 1% crowd is very different from the people we usually mingle with. But it was overwhelming to find that our work delivered what seemed to be clear emotional touchpoints for many investors. The ESG investment community is not one we had before the chance to mix with. Being able to bridge social impact work with ESG investing was breathtakingly interesting, refreshing and, frankly, very reassuring about the quality of people in general.”

Brian Iselin-President, slavefreetrade.org

For those that want to get an impression of the event. We have posted photos of the event, and will be updating our website with presentations made, and reports, shortly.

Going forward we have been working on several innovative ideas that will allow us to scale our capacity building work and mobilising more assets towards Value(s) Investing. Stay tuned.

Tribute Robert Rubinstein

During the last TBLI Conference in Stockholm, last week, my wife, Rieki Crins, gave me a beautiful surprise. In secret, which is not easy, she had been colleting testimonials from various friends and thought leaders. I was totally surprised and overwhelmed with such a beautiful gesture. Thank you to all who participated.

For those interested, you can find the book here. We have received several more testimonials since publishing the book, so we will update it.

Robert Rubinstein Speaking at Upcoming events:

ZUG IMPACT SUMMIT INVITATION- FAITH IN FINANCE- 30 & 31 October 2017
 
Prestel & Partner- Family Office Forum Zurich, 14 – 15 November
Program

Principals or Family Offices have free admission whilst solution providers must reserve a limited pass
Contact: office@prestelandpartner.com

I would like to be speaker/and or sponsor

 TBLI Impact Dinners

TBLI Foundation is organising 6 Value(s) Investing private dinners as fund raisers for its work in building a global community of Values Investors. The 6 dinners will be held in various European locations from Oct.-Dec,  for a small group of thought leaders (25 max.). The goal is to support each other in our ambition of scaling up Value(s) Investing.
You will enjoy the food, company and conversation. The location will always be warm, comfortable,refreshing with delicious food and wine.
Come meet your peers, in a trusted environment,  who share a passion of using investment to improve society and the environment, as well as making money.
The costs for attending the dinner are Euros 295,— (equivalent amount in Pounds, CHF, or SEK) Just click on the register button for the event that you would like to attend and fill in registration form.
Locations are:
October 11, Amsterdam-The Dylan Amsterdam
October 30, Zurich Haus zum Rüden
Nov. 9, Geneva Cercle de la Terrasse
Nov. 23, Milan Giacomo Arengario 
Dec. 5, London, House of St. Barnabus
Dec. 13, Paris, Cercle de L’Union Interalliée
If you would like to join us, please send email

 

October 10, 2017 2007 No Comments on TBLI 20th Anniversary-What Now?

The birth of a new era

When I started TBLI, 20 years ago, social media did not exist and thought leaders or influencers working to create a values based investing industry,  were few and far between. There was no CDP, no PRI, no Montreal Pledge, no ESG or Impact Investing community (GIIN, AVPN, EVPA, Eurosif, etc.).

The marketing people took over the field thinking that SRI/ESG etc would be a way to get more money to manage. They failed as the placement of SRI funds was not a successful event, initially. What became successful was the realisation that Social, Environmental and Governance factors would be come pervasive and will slowly make their way into the mainstream language. The battle is now for the value of that language: will it weaken in an Orwellian newspeak or will the ideas and the words take over.

I believe that ESG and Impact or what I like to call Value(s) Investing will become all pervasive, and TBLI through all its efforts was instrumental in achieving that. I believe it will provide investors what they all ultimately want; Investments that look at all risk factors, social, environmental, governance and financial, leading to Market Rate Return with a Social and Environmental added value. 

Accelerating Value(s) Investing

TBLI will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, in Stockholm at Nasdaq, Sept. 28-29.  Moving forward, TBLI will be transitioning to TBLI 2.0.- Accelerating ESG and Impact Investing strategies and money flows by asset owners and managers. We have been working on that and have some exciting new initiatives that.

Come join us for the next Chapter.

Batman Returns

To stay focussed on the job at hand, important to laugh, be authentic, and committed. Watching Larry David helps.

September 20, 2017 2007, ESG Investing, Impact Investing No Comments on The birth of a new era

Overnight success after 20 years

I was reflecting on the upcoming TBLI Conference Nordic 2017, and realised that this will be our 20th Anniversary. I couldn’t believe it. Had it been 20 years since we started TBLI, educating asset owner and managers about ESG and Impact Investing? Time really flew. I started to think of what had been accomplished. That was an even bigger eye opener.

This reflection coincided with a road show that I was planning for Copenhagen, so I decided to host a small seminar in Copenhagen at Rainmaking Loft, to discuss 20 years TBLI and what had been accomplished. In preparing, for this seminar, I reflected on what were the major breakthroughs that created the eco-system that we have now and what role did TBLI play in that. It was a great exercise as I forgot how TBLI influenced several important ESG and Impact breakthroughs. In addition,  those attending the seminar enjoyed thoroughly the 3 hour talk. The interaction with the audience was what I really enjoyed. I will definitely use part of that presentation for my opening talk at TBLI Nordic 2017 in Stockholm, Sept 28-29th, as Nasdaq.

We often forget what has worked and the progress we have made. `it. is important to avoid only listening  to headlines of a non-empathetic super power, or out of control climate change. Those stories are true and disturbing, but let’s not forget where we started from 20 years ago, and where are we now. I remember speaking to corporate groups, 20 years ago, who were afraid to hear the TBLI  story or even touch any publication dealing with ESG or Impact. Now everyone wants to join or be part of the ESG/Impact Fitness Club. That is wonderful. Now if we could only get those to actually do the exercises and reveal how much weight they lost.

I guess we are all an overnight success after 20 years. Come join us to celebrate.

July 20, 2017 2007 No Comments on Overnight success after 20 years