Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E23 - Susana Garcia Robles, Managing Partner at Capria Ventures
52 Plays4 days ago
In this episode of Women Changing Finance, Susana Garcia-Robles, Managing Partner at Capria Ventures, speaks about what it really takes to build financial ecosystems in emerging markets. usana began investing in venture capital in Latin America in the late 1990s, long before “impact” was trendy. She shares the hard lessons why early “green funds” failed, and why sustainable impact must include strong financial returns. Susana reflects on backing 90 venture funds, supporting unicorn founders, and creating WeExchange and WeInvest to amplify women entrepreneurs and investors across Latin America. We talk about: how development banks helped shape Latin America’s startup landscape, why local investors must believe in their own ecosystems, and how AI is transforming health, agriculture, and fintech in emerging markets. This episode is about staying through the ups and downs. Because good investors, and good changemakers, don’t trade trends. They build for the long term.
Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!
You can also:
- Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
- Read Susana's full bio
- Follow Susana on LinkedIn
To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:
- Capria Ventures — https://capria.vc
- Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) — https://www.iadb.org
- IDB Lab — https://bidlab.org
- LAVCA (Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America) — https://lavca.org
- Apprende Institute — https://aprendeinstitute.com
- Pomona Impact — https://pomonaimpact.com
- Salkantay Ventures — https://salkantay.vc
- NXTP Ventures — https://nxtp.vc
- WeExchange — https://wexchange.co/en/
- Emprendedora LAC — https://emprendedoralac.org
- WeInvest weinvestlatam.org/
- Elevar Equity https://elevarequity.com/
- 5 C Network https://www.5cnetwork.com/
- Agrofy — https://agrofy.com
- Cariaco - https://caricaco.com/
- Global Ventures - https://www.global.vc/
- Coming of Age by Noor Sweid - https://www.comingofage.me/
- The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby — https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/309693/the-power-law-by-mallaby-sebastian/9780141988948
- The Four Cardinal Virtues by Josef Pieper https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268089894/the-four-cardinal-virtues/
Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance, where you will discover amazing women from all around the world who are making finance become a force for good.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance.
Introduction to Susana Garcia Robles
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Cristina Tura and I'm welcoming today Susana Garcia Robles, who is a managing partner at Capria Ventures, responsible for the Middle East, Africa and Latin America regions.
00:00:35
Speaker
Before joining Capria, she served as Chief Investment Officer and Gender Initiatives Coordinator at the Inter-American Development Bank. She's also a senior advisor, a former board member of the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, LAFCA, and currently sits on several other boards.
00:00:54
Speaker
Susanna, it is wonderful to have you on the show today. Welcome.
Susana's Venture Capital Journey
00:00:58
Speaker
So as a first question, based on your broad experience of building the ecosystem in Latin America, and I know you are working more broadly today, but You spend so much time working on the Latin American ecosystem.
00:01:11
Speaker
It would be really great if you could reflect on the impact ecosystem in Latin America, what evolutions have happened, what are the trends that you are witnessing. Thank you, Cristina, and thank you for the invitation.
00:01:24
Speaker
i love the fact that you're trying to highlight women in finance. Well, I often say that my venture capital adventure started in 1999 when I joined the Innovation Lab of the Inter-American Development Bank.
00:01:41
Speaker
We are all that I knew my life was going to be changed forever. i wanted to give back to the region of my origins, Latin America, because I was already living permanently in the U.S.,
00:01:55
Speaker
So being at the development bank, impact was often talked about it. In venture capital, I was seeing that impact was more related to helping SMEs.
00:02:08
Speaker
And as technology entered the world, startups were change a little bit that, and we began to see almost like a divide between what was considered impact and what was considered a tech-driven startup with ambitions of great financial returns.
00:02:30
Speaker
I also think the world changed when impact stopped being just a domain of the development banks and started being considered by Rockefeller and other foundations, putting in a lot of emphasis of impact investment as a different asset class.
00:02:49
Speaker
And I remember that day talking to my team and the ADB and saying, today is a good day. So this will become adopted by the private sector.
00:03:00
Speaker
But today is a scary day because we are saying that it's a new asset class. And it shouldn't be a new asset class. It should be the same asset class incorporating a holistic view.
00:03:14
Speaker
My learning was that when I started on the IDB, for two years before I started, some venture capital funds had been already financed with our money. They were green funds.
00:03:29
Speaker
When people were not talking about climate or solar systems, we were backing some funds. and I'm talking about 1996, 1999.
00:03:40
Speaker
So we were very much innovative. What was our mistake? We mainly gave our funds and other investors also of p to create venture capital funds, green funds, led by managers who came from non-profit the world.
00:03:59
Speaker
So we lost our money. And I used to say, what's my learning from that is that we focus perhaps too much on the green, saving trees, saving the planet.
00:04:12
Speaker
And we didn't focus on the green of the dollars. And without the return on the dollars coming back to the investors, the companies went belly up.
00:04:23
Speaker
We didn't save trees,
Impact Ecosystem in Latin America
00:04:24
Speaker
we didn't save jobs, and we didn't have profitability. So that was a very tough lesson on learned that has accompanied me for the rest of my life.
00:04:35
Speaker
Thank you. That's a really interesting way of starting this perspective. And so maybe reflecting on all the time that you spent with the IDB, I imagine that things have changed over time, that the role also, I guess, of of a development bank has evolved.
00:04:51
Speaker
So what is the role of development banks in this space and how has it contributed or how is it contributing today to helping the ecosystem grow, evolve and also be more sustainable?
00:05:03
Speaker
I tell you, I saw like an inflection point in Latin America and the world around 2012, 2015, emerging markets began to leapfrog on technology. And that made the DFIs focus more on how do we, with our development mission, support founders that are beginning to incorporate technology as a core business. So I think it was a seamless transition to certain extent.
00:05:36
Speaker
And we moved a little bit from, instead of leaving behind our support for SMEs that were less technology-oriented, more family-grown, not interested in accessing capital from strategic investors, but more debt from banks, we didn't leave that vertical.
00:05:57
Speaker
We created verticals. And the developmental mission was clear in which we didn't go. We used the best markets like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile to learn our lessons and take them to more nascent ecosystems.
00:06:17
Speaker
I remember going to Jamaica, to Central America, to Ecuador, different countries. So I would say our commitment, I left the ADB almost six years ago, but I know because I stayed in touch with them, the commitment very strong in both verticals. We
AI in Venture Capital
00:06:39
Speaker
don't leave behind those who don't need venture capital, but we support venture capital. And I would say I'm beginning to see more and more focus, and I'm glad to see that, on the effects of incorporating venture capital.
00:06:55
Speaker
the good side of artificial intelligence in investment. This is something that is core in Capria Ventures and it's core in many private venture capital firms. I'm beginning to see it in development firms.
00:07:11
Speaker
So I'm glad to see that. Yes. And I really want to come back to this conversation about artificial intelligence because it's something that you're very focused on at Capria Ventures.
00:07:22
Speaker
In terms of the venture capital industry, because that's also one of your, where you have a lot of experience and expertise, I imagine, you know, you started with kind of a perspective about the challenge of this industry, especially when it comes to venture capital and impact.
00:07:40
Speaker
It has evolved. There is a lot of other kinds of funds today that do combine and impact. Can you perhaps reflect on this evolution? What has helped these fund managers to emerge, to grow from a handful, perhaps in the 90s to all of this like wealth of of diversity, I guess, to today?
00:08:03
Speaker
I think what happened is when i set my path to develop venture capital, I could have done only microfinance or grants and a little bit of venture capital on the ABV. And after a year of doing those three, I remember going to my boss and saying, I want to focus only on venture capital. Why?
00:08:24
Speaker
Because i look in the U.S., the country where I was living, And I said, why is the U.S. so competitive when it comes to innovation and in entrepreneurship? Because they are a knowledge innovation based economy.
00:08:40
Speaker
And then I look at the countries in my region and none of them were ah getting there, but I would see the potential. So I set myself to try to plant, as I say, they the the flag of Latin America in the map of investors. And for that, I took a very ecosystem-like approach.
00:09:02
Speaker
I had to make the IDB lab work. known as an investor in venture capital and a supporter of entrepreneurs. I had to support entrepreneurs.
00:09:15
Speaker
Later, it became more of a mission by 2012 to be more inclusive and get more of women entrepreneurs as well. And then had to invest. And that's why leaving the IEDV after 20 years, I had invested in 90 venture capital funds.
00:09:33
Speaker
Why? Because you have to put your money where your mouse is saying, oh, this is an opportunity. And I often would say to my team, we have to begin to decrease the percentage we put in our funds,
Support for Women Entrepreneurs
00:09:49
Speaker
but not because we don't bet in that. No, it's because we are attracting the private sector to invest along us.
00:09:58
Speaker
So I try to be very clear speaking about our lessons learned, bringing in the fund managers, those who have done it very well and those that maybe had failed, not to be afraid to talk about the failures. Why? Because again, looking at the U.S., a huge difference in our education in the U.S. and the education you receive in LATAM is that in the U.S., s a failure is only a failure if you don't draw a lesson from that. So a failure becomes experience.
00:10:31
Speaker
In LATAM, we are educated that the failure makes you a failed person. There are no second chances. So I try to change that narrative.
00:10:42
Speaker
And I have to say, i met a lot of wonderful fund managers and wonderful founders. And there was a high risk. I was betting not knowing what was going to happen.
00:10:56
Speaker
And yet now looking back, I look at, you know, founders and fans that no longer need our funding and not even through Capria, but I still keep in touch with them.
00:11:10
Speaker
I want to see their development and they have grown. They have positioned themselves. They are in their six, seven fund or you have companies in Mexico like Clip or Queski really making a difference when it comes to financial inclusion.
00:11:28
Speaker
Great. Actually, I wanted to ask you for examples. So and do you have any examples of funds, initiatives or or impact businesses that you are really impressed by?
00:11:39
Speaker
Sure. When it comes to companies, for example, in Capria, we invested in Apprende Institute founded by Martin Claure. Martin is a Latam entrepreneur. He comes, he's Bolivian, and he's trying to get the idea that not everybody needs a college degree, but there are a lot of jobs that need upgrades.
00:12:06
Speaker
So he founded Apprende Institute, trying to cater to those that maybe were in the health or in the beauty or in the sports industry, but wanting to go for more, not just staying at the bottom of the chain.
00:12:22
Speaker
So
Impact and Financial Returns
00:12:23
Speaker
he began providing online courses. Then he moved also working from LATAM to also incorporating the Hispanic population in the U.S. He's based in Miami these days and began to work with hospitals who have a huge number of Hispanic people, as nurses, as caretakers that needed to improve their English.
00:12:51
Speaker
Now he's also working with banks in LATAM that are interested in fostering courses to develop the semis entrepreneurial side and formation. So courses on finance, courses across the board, Apprende can provide an array of courses. So that I think is an M-Tech slash job tech skilling company that talks a lot about the potential of merging impact with returns.
00:13:23
Speaker
When I look at funds, I look at it from different views. Many times the impact is because the fund is located in a region that is often underloved or a country. For example, in Capria, in our earlier version of a fund that was a hybrid of a fund of funds and direct investments.
00:13:49
Speaker
We invested in Pomona, which is a mezzanine fund in Central America, and we invested in Salcantay, the very first venture capital fund in Peru.
00:14:00
Speaker
So by itself, the impact is saying, I believe these countries can smart entrepreneurs that are making a difference because of the type of startups they are creating and are going to give us returns.
00:14:18
Speaker
What have we seen? The impact they have in the ecosystem with their first accelerator fund was incredible. It was a before and after LATAM. not only in Argentina, where most of the founders were from, but it spread like something incredible. And it made the landscape of LATAM much more attractive to investors.
00:14:43
Speaker
In the second fund, they began going for less companies, less than an accelerator. And in the third fund, definitely they are focused on B2B SaaS companies.
00:14:56
Speaker
But the impact is everlasting. Incredible. An impact in the way that they invested in companies that had access to finance as their core, agtech marketplaces as a core, looking for ah how to incorporate benefits to the health of women and the mental health, especially during the pandemic, to people who became very isolated. So it's been really, very all-encompassing looking for those triple P, planet, profits, and people, people, planet, and profits.
00:15:37
Speaker
And that's the triple P I like to look for. That's a great framework. Thank you, Susana. And you mentioned earlier something about helping women in this space.
00:15:49
Speaker
You have been one of the pioneers of gender lens investing in Latin America. Can you tell us about the initiatives that you founded for women entrepreneurs and women investors?
00:16:00
Speaker
and what progress you have seen in this space. Excellent. I have to say that this didn't come to me just being at the IDB. Before the IDB, when I moved to the States, my first degree was in philosophy and education. And I realized moving to the U.S. that I didn't want to to get on the tenure track to become a college professor.
00:16:23
Speaker
so I began to work with a lot of nonprofits. They focus on leadership initiatives for young women. So when I went to the IDB, I began noticing, it was so obvious, I was the only woman in most of the investment communities, in the investors' meetings, talking to founders, etc.
00:16:44
Speaker
So in 2012, one of the managers of the IDB said, okay, I want every group in the IDB lab to focus and tell me, how are you going to incorporate more of a gender lens in your daily activities. So I said, great.
00:17:02
Speaker
I began working with one of my consultants and for several months, we consulted with the wisdom of the crowd. We talked to European ecosystem builders, funds and founders, US funds, founders and ecosystem builders and Latam ones, asking them, what do you see?
00:17:23
Speaker
But from there, I started my first initiative within the IDB. We exchanged that meant women entrepreneurs for change.
00:17:34
Speaker
And what we provided was mentorship, a way to highlight things. them providing an event of a pitch competition that would have investors and they had to pitch.
00:17:48
Speaker
And I didn't care if they had men in their co-founding team. The women were going to do the pitching. Then we would provide also visibility because we were the IDB and we began to have private sector firms wanting to join this initiative.
00:18:07
Speaker
And we would provide speed dating. And we would provide something that to this day is one of my missions even at Capria. Provide role models of what I call real women.
00:18:21
Speaker
And what did i mean by that? Well, real women are women like you and me. We don't come from privileged places. We didn't have access because of our last names or our social circle. We made it happen.
00:18:37
Speaker
And so we began in an annual event featuring women that were ah mothers who maybe were ah venturing because one of their kids were really sick.
00:18:50
Speaker
And they said, well, I actually have a biology degree. Maybe I should create a startup to address this issue or a psychology degree. women who were later in their life saying, now my kids are in college.
00:19:07
Speaker
I can dedicate myself to create the startups on the fintech area because I started business. So I wanted to show also entrepreneurs, I have remember one edition in which we showcase entrepreneurs from 16 years old to 60.
00:19:25
Speaker
So those stories for me are the perfect impact story. Money is given to investors. The company grows, becomes relevant, but there is that mission that women tend to have is still there.
00:19:39
Speaker
In 2019, again with Marta Cruz, I created WeInvest, a space for women investors that the majority is living in LATAM, others in the U.S. or in Europe, but have at least 10% of their investments going to LATAM.
00:19:58
Speaker
And what do we do with women investors? Create that safe space in which they can talk about what they need to learn and skills they need to gain to be better investors. For example, we provided webinars on board participation.
00:20:16
Speaker
And all these and goodies like Martha, myself, Joanna Posada from Elevar Equity talk about, okay how do you become comfortable being in a world and adding value to that company?
00:20:31
Speaker
We have talked about compensation, how to ne negotiate your incorporation as a partner in a venture capital firm. We talk about to look at different sectors,
00:20:44
Speaker
We create spaces in which we do a reverse pitch, the women investors pitch to the founders, and then the founders to the women investors.
00:20:55
Speaker
We are not an investor club because we invest aggregates women in venture capital funds, in private equity funds, in family offices. So if we all of a sudden, we feel that we like one of the companies, we take that outside our chat and we contact directly the entrepreneur. And the reason is clear. We invest, unlike Emprendedora Slack or WeExchange, is a foundation.
00:21:24
Speaker
So we are a nonprofit. We can receive grants and we need money. But so we cannot become an investor's club. So that's something that to this day I remember that was one of the things I spoke when joining Capria.
00:21:40
Speaker
I asked my partners point blank, I hope you're not thinking of me as a token female partner because I'm nothing but a token female partner.
00:21:51
Speaker
And they laughed and they said no. We have done our due diligence. We know of your track record. We couldn't find any woman who has been in your region for 26 years. be So we are interested in you and your very loud opinions. And we respect that.
00:22:10
Speaker
And it has been incredible to see that and also to see that when I joined Capria, I was the only partner. Today, we have another woman partner based in Nairobi and a COO based in India who is a woman.
00:22:27
Speaker
So
Technology-Driven Impact
00:22:28
Speaker
that's really walking the talk. That's a great story. And yeah, your passion for for this topic comes really through. So it's a great segue to my next question.
00:22:40
Speaker
You have become managing partner at Capria Ventures. Capria's vision is a world transformed for the better by technology, creating opportunity for all. Tell us how you do the investments and at Capria.
00:22:54
Speaker
How do you contribute to this vision? Excellent. I'm privileged to have as one of the founders of Capria and managing partner as well, a colleague and a friend, Will Paul, who had 13 years of being Microsoft vice president for Windows Global.
00:23:13
Speaker
So he's incredible when it comes to technology. And he has done a lot to make everybody at Capri study technology, feel more comfortable of operating companies in their Gen AI potential, these days, agentic potential.
00:23:31
Speaker
Or as we like to to say now, we have brought the Gen AI and the agentic and say AI. AI all in companies. So we believe, of course, that technology has its risk and there are plenty of risk.
00:23:48
Speaker
But technology has a huge advantage. It's a world of leveling the play field that comes with technology. to We have seen investments we have done, for example, in companies in Africa that before,
00:24:04
Speaker
They couldn't reach other markets because of the constraints in language. Today, that's gone. Even in India, if you're seeing there are so many languages spoken, or when you look at Peruvian companies that now can access indigenous populations, if they are, for example, fintech, and explain the product in their own native language.
00:24:28
Speaker
So we believe in the powerful impact created by technology. We also believe that the combination of the pandemic that was such a dark moment in our human history, but at the same time made founders more visible globally. They didn't need to travel and spend money on that.
00:24:50
Speaker
They became one more possibility anybody in the world through Zoom or Google Meet. So technology has a lot of good sides. And that's where we focus while being aware of the wrong side of technology. So if I were at the ADB, we used to say, well, tech for good.
00:25:11
Speaker
I'm not going to say that in Capri. We are going to talk about the huge impact. But in the end, tech for good is for good causes. And for example, we have helped, we really do not in invest in Gen.ai tools. We invest in companies from the job tech, ed tech, fintech, health tech, active spaces, and we try to make them go through two levels of incorporation.
00:25:41
Speaker
First, we use technology internally to become more efficient. And there is a lot that through Gen.ai, they can do that or ma machine learning. Then we go to what can you do for your clients so your clients can improve in their technology and you offer products that push that limit.
00:26:03
Speaker
And then the third one, which is less often in emerging markets, but we are beginning to see, is when the company has done step one and two, then you went to step three.
00:26:14
Speaker
What new markets or new products can Unimaginable before the coming of artificial intelligence can this company create.
00:26:25
Speaker
So we have developed our own AI framework. So whenever we analyze a company, we have a conversation with the founder. If the founder says, I want to, but I don't know how to go about it. Don't worry.
00:26:42
Speaker
In Capria, we have an AI team composed by four developers, a partner, Will, and a vice president that work with the CTO or the CTO equivalent of those startups.
00:26:58
Speaker
to really be creating prototypes and really tailored products for each startup in our portfolio. And if you go to our capia.bc website, you'll see some examples of real companies and what they have created.
00:27:14
Speaker
And maybe actually, if I can follow on that, can you give one or two examples of of those companies? Sure. For example, is an Indian company working at hospitals with radiologists.
00:27:28
Speaker
So we know radiologists face a huge, huge challenge, which is how to really make a balance between the workload that sometimes happens and that during the pandemic was incredible, plus their own attention spans.
00:27:47
Speaker
I have, it just so happens, I have a relative in the U.S. who is a cardiologist, and he told me, during the pandemic, i sometimes I didn't go home. I had to keep looking at this, but at the same time, sometimes I was feeling, am I getting COVID? I'm so tired. I need to go to work and to sleep a little bit before I look at another set of x-rays So we created, co-created copilot that was like that second set of eyes saying, don't miss this. Don't miss that small stain that may be something in those lungs. And then would also be that second set of eyes in the report that the company was creating.
00:28:32
Speaker
So now we are trying to help them create an agent one step further that can really, the radiologists will be able to delegate the agent several actions that, of course, then needs the human interaction, the human final check.
00:28:50
Speaker
So we don't eliminate humans for the sake of technology, but we make them work. So that is one that I love because it's in the health space and it really made a difference. And from the return point of view, the company became much more competitive. It ruined so gross margins and they were able to accumulate many more reports with greater accuracy.
00:29:17
Speaker
We had another company in the job tech and coding space and in the same. They were looking at the resumes of the potential students for the coding camp, but by humans, and humans
Reflections on Impact Investing
00:29:33
Speaker
have a capacity to really make comparisons among the resumes and decide this one will be better. And then after they finish the coding camp,
00:29:43
Speaker
this would be a better match for this company. So once they began to incorporate Gen.AI, they were able to really go through thousands of resumes and have an incredible accuracy during the matching.
00:30:01
Speaker
So they became famous because the companies began saying, oh my gosh, I use this company and it really made a difference. And this employee is really good for us.
00:30:14
Speaker
In LATAM, we have done quite a bit with FinTech and with AgTech, helping when you have AgTech marketplace, which is the biggest challenge.
00:30:27
Speaker
Producers are not many times into technology. So how can you use them? How can you make them use technology, but at the level that they feel comfortable?
00:30:39
Speaker
So, of course, LATAM is the kingdom of WhatsApp, right? So it was first creating tools in WhatsApp, then creating a chat box. This is a in company called AgroFi, creating a chatbot called Clement.
00:30:56
Speaker
And it's... An older lady who talks to the producer and said says, I know you're looking for this specific type of onion.
00:31:07
Speaker
We have to buy it and what most competitive prices. Let me look for the data. And in seconds, she's able to produce within the radius that the producer is willing to travel, the best prices, the best places, the minuses and pluses of each place.
00:31:25
Speaker
For a human to do that, it will take much longer. We also have a call center in Brazil, a home agent. But again, call center can be something a little bit antiquated these days.
00:31:39
Speaker
So the guy was really eager to create value add in his company. And working with Ecopilot made a huge difference, made the agents behind the course be much more productive, much more on target of the answers.
00:31:57
Speaker
We all have come to the frustration of seeing, have it all the time, all of a sudden in a merchant saying, oh, you can talk to our chat. And the chat has only five answers to give you, no matter what you ask.
00:32:13
Speaker
So tailoring that makes customer satisfaction go through the rules. And that's what we are trying to create one day at a time and one company at a time.
00:32:24
Speaker
Fantastic. Thank you so much for these examples. They're really good. ah And well, I mean, you know, this conversation is also an opportunity for you to reflect on on achievements.
00:32:34
Speaker
Obviously, you have had so many over the past time that you have have worked on these issues, but Is there and one or several achievements that you're particularly proud of and maybe something that you still want to achieve in the future?
00:32:50
Speaker
One achievement I'm proud of is how I learn quickly to build ecosystems. And this is something that I'm applying in Africa in my work with Mobula, my other partner, and also in the Middle East.
00:33:07
Speaker
And looking in general, the other day I was talking to one of the partners in Southeast Asia and telling her what I did in doing best, what she couldn't do. So it is an achievement because it took a lot of my time and a lot of my willpower, ambition, why not?
00:33:25
Speaker
But also passion, as you notice. I really wanted to make the case for emerging markets to be attractive for investors all over the world.
00:33:36
Speaker
The job is not done by any means, but we have come a long way. And what's left for me is to gain the same depth I gain in LATAM, now in other markets, but making it cross-regional.
Investor Engagement in Emerging Markets
00:33:53
Speaker
You have always had this focus on emerging markets, but now, especially at Capria Ventures, you are really that's where you're investing. And yet... it is still quite difficult to convince, let's say, international investors to invest into emerging markets, developed market investors to invest in emerging markets.
00:34:13
Speaker
How do you get your investors attracted to Capria, for example? I say many times is by inviting them in a, what I would say, a non-stretching environment, but they are not going to be immediately attacked by a lot of people saying, we need money for our fund or our company, but inviting them to speak at a venture capital conference in Mexico.
00:34:39
Speaker
Their minds are blown over. afterwards or to Brazil or to Argentina. I remember last year going to the investment forum in Buenos Aires after a hiatus, given that Argentina now has a government that is much more pro-business than the previous administration. And I was talking because, of course,
00:35:01
Speaker
in Argentine, but I've been living most of my life in the US. I was talking in English to a lot of the Americans, so they wouldn't feel left out of the conversations or British people or people from Europe who felt very comfortable speaking in English. And they were like, I would have never imagined I was coming to a place where there is so much technology, where i hear things that maybe they are not even happening in Europe.
00:35:29
Speaker
or things that can be complementary to what is happening in the US. So it's making an intro of the region to them in a non-threatening environment.
00:35:42
Speaker
But alongside with that, the challenge that remains, and it has been quite challenging for after the bubble of 2021, when investors invested poorly in those bubble unicorns that appear in January and were unicorns by May, and they believe in that thesis, and now they are in trouble.
00:36:06
Speaker
An investor oversees will never want to invest if he or she doesn't see local investment. So what's happening since 2022, unfortunately, is that many of the local investors have retrieved, they are more cautious,
00:36:26
Speaker
Their investment boards are saying, until i don't see some return, stop doing this. You blew it in 2021. So now we are paying the consequences of having illiquidity. So we have to wait.
00:36:40
Speaker
A good investor it stays through ups and downs. And in the end, that translates into returns. If you become, instead of a venture capital investor, a trader, you blew it.
00:36:55
Speaker
because you are trying to second guess the market. And it is during the crisis where you can make the best investments because you buy cheaper than when there is a bubble.
00:37:09
Speaker
And eventually you will sell five, seven years on the road at the higher price. So I think the two go together, invite in a non-threatening environment a lot of investors that they can see how different the ecosystems are from their ill-conceived notions.
00:37:32
Speaker
And at the same time, invite the local investors to go for it, to believe in it. I have also to say that i just two months ago, I went to summit called Caricaco in Central America, and there were a lot of investors overseas, and she wear it I never saw that Guatemala, that Costa Rica would have this type of entrepreneurs. So there are
Inspirations and Leadership Philosophy
00:38:00
Speaker
unconscious biases, not only to towards women.
00:38:04
Speaker
In general, I always tease saying what one we respect. and they were going to be what illiterate they now have access to technology and access to the investment world all over the world globally not only in Costa Rica not only in Guatemala absolutely thank you so much Susana for this it's all about changing perceptions absolutely So we are approaching the the end of this conversation.
00:38:33
Speaker
so I have three quick questions for you. What is keeping you optimistic? Well, I often say wouldn't have stayed 26 years in this industry if I couldn't be optimistic. But it's a mixture of optimistic and realistic.
00:38:51
Speaker
I know what the challenges are, but I see the potential in people. And this is something that I train myself to do and use my prior your background in philosophy and education.
00:39:05
Speaker
When I look at you, I don't see somebody interviewing me in a podcast. I want to get to know the whole of Christina because getting to know the person and getting to know the person of an entrepreneur is very relevant to the success of that business.
00:39:23
Speaker
So I've seen a lot of mistakes being done by founders and by fund managers. So part of making me optimistic is that i mentor a lot of people. And we can talk about how to correct the change, how to look at issues, how not to be afraid to learn from mistakes and from pivots that you have to make. So seeing that elasticity, that desire to learn and improve in both founders and fund managers, for me, is part of the optimism that keeps me going.
00:40:02
Speaker
That's beautiful. you. What is inspiring you or who is inspiring you? Definitely, I'm inspired at large by my partners because we are all very different.
00:40:13
Speaker
And that's wonderful. And we all are very aware of what we contribute to the partnership. And we are not trying to make one another fit into a box or fit or fall into the problem of creating mini-me's.
00:40:31
Speaker
You have to be like me. No, we are totally different and we celebrate that. So they inspire me on a day-to-day basis. But I have to say that people who have inspired me are not the typical ones.
00:40:45
Speaker
The first manager of the IDB Lab, Paul at the time, Multilateral Investment Fund, was very, very much American person from Boston didn't even speak Spanish, although he loved and understood a little bit Spanish.
00:41:05
Speaker
But I saw him allowing us to always go for innovation and not be afraid of making mistakes. And that made such an impression on me that when I began having teams, I always thought of Don Terry. I always thought of him saying, Susanna, I don't care if you blew it. You can tell me how you blew it how you're going to make it better. And the next time around, what did you learn? And that would make me a better manager of people. So i always try to give creds to Don, who is now retired, living between Boston and Connecticut, because I think that marked my life.
00:41:50
Speaker
And the other person, again, nothing to do with venture capital, is being educated by my mother made a difference. My mother was not into anything related to um investments on technology, but she allowed me to be myself.
00:42:08
Speaker
We are three sisters and each one of us has taken a really different path professionally and personally. And sometimes she didn't like it that much, but she said, i want to give you the freedom, but keep in mind that freedom comes along with responsibility and accountability.
00:42:28
Speaker
So that also really marks the way when I make an investment decision, when I even make a decision, should I travel and spend money in this trip or not? I always, it resonates in the back.
00:42:42
Speaker
You are free to make that decision. You have to live in the consequences of that decision. So those two persons for me have been really engraved in my modus operandi's.
00:42:56
Speaker
with everybody around me, even in my family, but of course. That's definitely very inspiring. Thank you. Are you reading anything that you would recommend to the audience?
00:43:07
Speaker
Well, I'm reading something that one of our partner fans wrote. It's about Nina, the Middle East region, and she's Nur Sued, the founder of Global Ventures, which is It has by now three funds. It's a management firm operating from Dubai.
00:43:27
Speaker
And of course, I'm drawing a blank now on the title, but I can get it to you later. But it's interesting to me to understand her observations of being the first female founder of a venture capital investment firm in Dubai operating in the Emirates and Egypt and Africa.
00:43:48
Speaker
So I'm reading that. Once in a while, i go back to reading The Power Law because I think that's an important book.
00:43:58
Speaker
So I don't read it like from cover to cover. I just go to certain chapters that I find are interesting to me. And then...
00:44:08
Speaker
I never want to to forget my origins as a philosophy major. So once in a while, i grab books like the books from Joseph Piper, one especially on fortitude and temperance, because I think you have to be very strong to be doing what I'm doing. And i don't want to forget the books of philosophy in my way of living my life.
00:44:36
Speaker
Beautiful. That's a fantastic way to end this conversation. Any final thoughts or advice that you would have for fellow changemakers or any specific ask that you have of listeners? Honor the world of being a changemaker or aspire to be one. And
Advice for Changemakers
00:44:56
Speaker
there will be a lot of things that you cannot change and may get you discouraged.
00:45:02
Speaker
But instead of falling into that pseudo despair that is not uncommon in founders. Instead of that, look at your immediate circle, see what you can change.
00:45:16
Speaker
And if you change the life of one person, inspire that person to do the same with his or her circle, that will have some convergence, but not a 100%. So the ripple effect happens one person at a time.
00:45:35
Speaker
And I even remember when I was creating WeExchange, that had an incredible Resonation in the ecosystems and entrepreneurs attending the event would go back to the acquisitions and create similar initiatives. And I never minded that I was EA.
00:45:53
Speaker
I used to say talking to somebody is like grabbing. You want to grab grape, but you get a whole bunch of them. Fine. Because that person talking to you will say, oh, I should connect you with this other person. I should go and talk to this other person.
00:46:12
Speaker
So be the change you want to be in the world, but one person at a time. That's a pseudo quote from Mahatma Gandhi that I have in my computer, well, on my desk. And and I think it's very inspiring.
00:46:29
Speaker
Be the change you want to see in the world. So honor the world or the aspiration to be a change maker. Thank you. Thank you so much, Susana. Muchas gracias.
00:46:41
Speaker
It was such a wonderful conversation. Thank you for your time today with us. It's been a pleasure, really. I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you so much for it giving me the space to to talk to an audience. And i will never know who listened to this.
00:46:57
Speaker
And I don't care. I know it will resonate with with people. And that's what I'm said to do. Absolutely, for
Closing Remarks
00:47:06
Speaker
sure.
00:47:10
Speaker
If you'll stay with us, thank you so much for the time that you took to discover one of the amazing women changing finance. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends, colleagues, and on social media.
00:47:21
Speaker
Your feedback is also incredibly valuable. Please take a moment to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. It will help me for the next episodes. And don't miss out on future episodes.
00:47:33
Speaker
Subscribe to the podcast and follow me on LinkedIn. See you for the next episode.
00:47:48
Speaker
Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha podcast network. Smart conversations by and for impact investing professionals.