oikos Graz, in cooperation with Finance Club, hosted an event on Sustainable Finance at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz on Wednesday, October 17. The audience of about eighty people was curious to understand how to invest money sustainably. The first speaker Dr. Karl Weinmayer is Assistant Professor of Finance at the Modul University in Vienna. His current research focuses on Sustainable Finance. He showed the development of sustainable investments in the EU and globally. He pointed out that there has been an increase in sustainable investments. Weinmayer explained the different criteria applied by investors when searching for sustainable investment possibilities. Most common is Negative Screening, which excludes certain business practices, sectors or companies. Other criteria are Positive screening, Norms-based screening, ESG integration, Sustainability-themed investing, Impact investing and Corporate Engagement. For investors aiming for direct influence, the strategy of Impact investing in private markets that tackles social or environmental problems, is most recommended. Research shows that environmental protection is of paramount importance to investors.

The second speaker Mag. Susanne Hasenhüttl works for the Austrian non-profit organization ÖGUT which provides a platform for organizations and companies to develop, communicate and share knowledge regarding sustainable future development.

 Hasenhüttl is specialized in the field of sustainable financial market and emphasizes the importance to invest money in the right place. She agreed with the screening criteria mentioned before. Product labels like the Österreichisches Umweltzeichen, FNG Label or ÖGUT certificates may also help investors to allocate money. The upcoming EU action plan on sustainable finance might also provide a legal basis for more sustainable investment possibilities. However, there is still room for improvements regarding transparency and information on financial investments. Both speakers provided great insights into the topic of sustainable finance. After the discussion with numerous questions from the audience, oikos Graz closed the evening with a local vegan buffet.

At oikos, we want to transform education for a sustainable world. One direct way to do this is to work to change economics and management curricula at the universities where we are present. To help member groups work towards local change we are launching the oikos Curriculum Project. The Project will kick off with a workshop at the FutureLab called “Building a Better curriculum” that is designed to help oikees think through the purpose of their education, and dream up new ways to teach economics and management.

The workshop was developed and tested this summer at the oikos Summer school in Vienna and events in Italy and France. After the FutureLab, special support will be provided to oikos chapters to adapt and replicate the workshop in their own university, and hence contribute to oikos positioning on this topic. Want to know more about this exciting project? Contact our Associate in Pluralist Economics J.Christopher Proctor (j.christopher.proctor@oikos-international.org) and our PhD fellow Stefano Ramelli (stefano.ramelli@oikos-international.org)

On October 8, 2018, oikos LEAP hosted the very first webinar for its new 2018/2019 cohort. This open webinar focused on the art of facilitation and featured Hanna Meirelles, an international trainer, and development facilitator. She talked about the role and responsibilities of a facilitator and discussed the essential skills and tools required for facilitation.

“The word facilitate comes from a Latin facilis, meaning “easy”, hence the key function of the facilitator is determined by the word itself, and that is to make things easy for his or her audience.” – explained Hanna to the group of intrigued oikees. She pointed out that every good facilitator needs to have 3 key skills:

– leadership – it is a willingness to guide people through the journey, give directions and orientation.

– ability to listen – it is a readiness to listen to what is said in the room

– ability to summarize – it is  to understand what is said and give back to the audience, ensure that everybody can relate and comprehend

Hanna also shared some of the facilitation tools and techniques. She emphasized the importance of posing questions to the participants in order to engage them in the conversation or activity. “Suspense helps us engage people” – she noted – “if you need to write, then write first and only afterwards talk about it, otherwise you might lose people’s attention”.

One more thing to keep in mind is preparation. According to Hanna, every facilitator needs to prepare beforehand in 4 areas: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.

The facilitator does not need to have answers to all the questions, she or he should merely be willing to shine the light on those persons who might have or show a right road to the answer.

“Leadership is to inspire people to do things that they themselves want” – remarked Hanna. That is what LEAP stands for and what we as a community want to achieve.

About the facilitator

Hanna Meirelle – International Trainer and Development Facilitator

Daughter of a teacher and an entrepreneur, Hanna understood the importance of education and business since she was very young. At the age of 11 she started to teach and with 12 years old she created her first company.

She studied Business and specialized in Strategic Planning and Management Development, as well as in Leadership, Culture and Diversity.

During the last 19 years, she has worked around the world in large organizations in Leadership Development, Education, Consulting, Oil & Gas, Engineering and Mining, as a Human Resources Leader, helping thousands of leaders in all 5 continents to develop themselves and improve their management skills and business performance.

Currently, a Trainer, Development Facilitator, Investor and Entrepreneur in the Education Business, Hanna is one of the most energetic speakers nowadays that travels the world fulfilling her mission: inspire and empower people to be free, so they can develop their own potential and have freedom of choice, while respect diversity.

She is passionate about leadership, cultural differences, women empowerment, people development and education.

She also leads a non-profit project that supports children to create a better future for themselves, their families and the world.

Johanna Zimmermann is a board member of the oikos chapter in Copenhagen. Originally from Marburg, Germany, she studies MSc in Business and Development Studies at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and works as a student assistant at Ørrsted, the Danish renewable energy company. At oikos Copenhagen, she leads curricular projects and advocates for the integration of sustainability into education. Johanna shared her oikos story and discussed her work for curricular change with us.

When I joined oikos a year ago, I had just started my MSc in Business and Development Studies at Copenhagen Business School. Back then I already knew I wanted to learn as much as possible about sustainable business models and especially about my possibilities to contribute to a (business) world that centers around profitable, environmentally friendly, and socially beneficial solutions. At CBS I realized two things – 1. More and more companies are employing graduates with expertise in circular economic thinking and other theories that can be used to solve the most urgent problems our global community is facing but 2. this demand for graduates cannot be met by the standard study programmes at CBS. There are some electives dedicated to sustainability, but I believe that we have to integrate sustainability approaches into everything we are teaching and have to stop thinking of it as something that is merely additional. So I decided to engage in what was called the “Education team” in our oikos chapter, which aimed at changing education at CBS so that it includes more content on sustainability. In the last twelve months, I worked on giving this highly ambitious goal a structured project approach so that we can step by step get closer to reaching it.

Now, one year later, I am a board member of the Copenhagen chapter as a Head of Curricular Projects, and I am very proud of our new pilot project “Curricular Transformation”. In this project, we will work with study boards (the decisive body for curriculum design and approval) that consist of student representatives, professors, and directors. First of all, we will gather data from students, professors, and companies to figure out what is exactly the baseline and ideal for sustainability in their study programme. Then, we will compile material such as state-of-the-art case studies on sustainability, latest publications etc. and provide it to the study boards in order for them to decide what can be integrated. Ultimately, we will support them with innovating the curricula accordingly.

This requires a strong network within CBS and a lot of patience. Everyone who is familiar with a theory of change knows that these kinds of bottom-up driven structural changes usually encounter a lot of resistance. However, it seems like we are making a general momentum and paving the way towards sustainability at CBS and beyond. Just a few days ago, I joined a task force of highly motivated professors, who got really excited about the Curricular Transformation project and expressed their interest in supporting us. And indeed, who would be a better initiator of curriculum change than students who know what they want and need to learn in order to be able to realize their career goals and at the same time create a sustainable future for the generations ahead.