Finding Meaning in Profit

Brent chats with Bessi Graham about how businesses can provide meaningful change in the world while making a profit. They discuss finding meaning, working with intention, and building teams around your vision. Bessi is the co-founder of Benefit Capital and The Difference Incubator (TDi).  As an investor, entrepreneur, business owner, company director, speaker and writer, Bessi’s passion for using business as an agent for change is internationally recognised.  For the past 20 years she has focused on unlocking capital to deliver positive social and environmental outcomes in Australia and the Pacific.  Recognised by the Australian Government with a ministerial appointment to the Committee for the Accelerating Commercialisation and Incubator Support Initiatives (Department of Industry, Innovation and Science); and advisory roles to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for the Emerging Markets Impact Investment Fund (EMIIF) and Pacific RISE. Bessi was also the architect of the first investment readiness fund for the impact investment space in Australia – now run by Impact Investment Australia (IIA) as the Growth Grant.  Bessi has a background in management consulting and training, was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Melbourne, is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Bessi was a finalist in the 2017 Telstra Business Women’s Awards.