Christina-Anne Kyosti

My journey has been three-pronged: a traditional career in the corporate and institutional world, a family career in philanthropy and investments, and being a mother, which brings continuous perspectives from the next generation. I am fascinated by the seamless cross-over between all the roles I have and what we can achieve when combining the tools of philanthropy and investments.

Philanthropy is the love for humanity. The greatest innovations, therefore, relate to how we engage in society in line with the time we live in and the needs we encounter. Innovation goes beyond the “tools” such as MRIs, recoverable grants, and structural evolution. In essence, it addresses two major challenges: the lack of time and knowledge of how to engage in philanthropy, and the marriage between deploying new technologies within an ever-changing regulatory and compliance landscape. We, as family offices, need to leverage our experience and be more proactive by providing easier access to philanthropy through our platforms, and focus on better combining technology, education and our desired impact.

It is a balance in everything we do, not just as investors. The critical part of the definition is mindset and clarity of purpose. Take, for example, a time horizon of five and fifteen years for a climate investment in the blue economy. Over five years, we can affect returns and impact in a narrow band of renewable energy and waste management. Over a ten-year horizon, however, we can start building a systemic investment approach across the interdependencies that significantly increases both returns and impact, and democratises the investment audience to be more inclusive. For me, true purpose-led investment equals systemic investment with Mother Nature as the main stakeholder.

The deal-flow of opportunities is constant and ever-increasing, and we are largely sector-agnostic. We look at it through three key lenses. First, from our family compass perspective. Second, the systemic impact across sectors and the stakeholders affected. Finally, we discuss it as a family, with Mother Nature having a vote. Once an opportunity has passed through these lenses, it goes through our accelerated due diligence process.

Moving the paradigm of philanthropy towards more innovative strategies is inevitably met with resistance. Many philanthropic strategies are passive in nature, and although there is much literature published, it is challenging to decipher and become better informed and comfortable with change. We look at philanthropy and investment as part of the same continuum — different tools to make an impact. This allows us to manage risk and build philanthropic strategies directly into the impact objective.

Be courageous and unafraid of change. It is easy to say, but the changes happening around us are a wonderful opportunity to make an impact. Collaborate with other family offices and engage actively in one or two projects first, where you either match finance or follow a more innovative strategy. This allows for peer learning and better alignment of your philanthropic endeavours with the opportunities at hand. Most of all, be confident in the transition and never lose sight of the end goal. The more positive impact we make, the more we enable others to succeed — and that is the purpose of philanthropy, and the love for humanity.

It’s a statement about sequence of thought, not a hierarchy of importance. Financial return isn’t optional; it disciplines everything we do. But we ask the social question first because it’s the harder one to retrofit. You can improve a mediocre financial model over time. You cannot bolt genuine impact onto a business that was never designed to create it. Leading with Social Alpha forces every opportunity to prove its human and environmental logic before we ever get to the spreadsheet. If it can’t clear that bar, the returns don’t matter to us. It’s also why, when I led a session on it at Norrsken House in Barcelona, we titled it “Measuring the Social Alpha” rather than simply naming it. We walked through how we hold that discipline to account across the sectors where we actually deploy capital: energy, health, education and technology.

It surprises people until they look closely at what’s actually inside it. We are not investing in the tools of conflict. We’re investing in what keeps people safe while conflict is happening around them. With the number of active tensions on Europe’s borders today, that is no longer a hypothetical for us. The portfolio focuses on deterrence, the resilience of critical infrastructure, and civil preparedness: food security, shelter, supply chains that hold up under pressure, support for displaced people and migrants, health services, and the first responders who show up before anyone else does. That is entirely consistent with protecting the human condition. Sometimes protecting it means being there before the worst happens, not only after.

I bring my sons with me everywhere I reasonably can: to board discussions, to panels, to the rooms where decisions actually get made. Giulio has sat beside me on stage talking about legacy and stewardship, most recently in Montreux, and I would rather he learn what this work feels like from the inside than inherit a polished summary of it later. Succession isn’t a document you sign at the end. It’s a habit you build for years before anyone needs it. If they only meet this responsibility the day they’re handed it, we will have already failed them.

Just when you think you have it figured out, someone asks the unforeseen, surprising and mind-boggling question… and we begin a new journey. That happens more often than you would expect, and I have stopped being surprised by it. I think that is the honest answer. Certainty is not really available in this work, and I have made peace with that.