Michael Jongeneel

Background

About Michael Jongeneel

Sustainable finance and impact investing has been my driving force for the past 15+ years, starting when I moved from McKinsey to the Executive Board of Triodos Bank in 2007 at the age of 33. Subsequently, as partner at Bain, I initiated the global sustainable finance practice and grew that from zero to over 50 practitioners. Today, as the CEO of FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, I work together with a diverse, impassioned team of colleagues to enable entrepreneurs to increase inclusive and sustainable prosperity. We focus on 3 key UN SDGs: SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) as 'default', and more specifically on SDG10 (reducing inequalities) and SDG 13 (climate action). Reducing inequalities has been close to my heart since childhood, as I grew up in Sulawesi, Indonesia, experiencing and witnessing stark inequalities firsthand as a young kid. Regarding climate action; I've been personally CO2 neutral for since 2019, and aim to be cumulative net zero by 2030. At the end of the day, I believe it's all about individual choices, or what I call personal leadership. I shared my vision on this in my book "8 Essential Steps for Leaders of the Future"(available only in Dutch). One of the key messages is that we need to go beyond Covey’s ‘win-win’, towards ‘win-win-win.' The first ‘win’ is your own interest, which I'd argue is impossible to deny. The second ‘win’ is your daily responsibility, such as the interest of your team, organization, family. The third ‘win’ is for anyone else (including flora and fauna, and taking into account future generations). Balancing these three wins continuously in all decisions and actions is not an easy task, but essential to strive:(A) if the first two ‘wins’ prevail over the last one, we will end up with an unsustainable world.(B) If the second ‘win’ is disregarded, then e.g, your organization might go bankrupt and (C) if you ignore the first ‘win’ you for instance run the risk of burn-out. In my view the greatest (future) leaders, are the once balancing these three ‘wins’ the best!