The motion up for debate at the 2021 Skoll World Forum is: There is no such thing as “inclusive capitalism”; Capitalism inherently intensifies inequity and exploitation. Our current economic system promotes short-term thinking and growth at all costs, resulting in poverty, inequality, and destruction of the environment. While capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty, it has also allocated risk and reward inequitably across society. This has left many wondering if the tools of capitalism can be leveraged to advance equity, or must we look to other models?
The Acumen Debates series, in collaboration with EY, aims to ignite discussions on issues pertinent to the global social impact community. Since its launch in 2015, Acumen & EY have hosted five such debates on the role of government, financial and social impact trade-offs, and the like.
The debate format required speakers to take stances that might not accurately represent their true points of view, or that of their organization.
Yasmina Zaidman is the Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen, which works to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. She leads its work to engage with corporate partners and institutions that share Acumen’s commitment to tackling poverty. She also spearheaded Acumen’s gender integration work and co-authored the report Women and Social Enterprises: How Gender Integration can Boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Poverty. She initiated the $22 million Pioneer Energy Investing Initiative with corporate, government and foundation partners.
Ms. Zaidman has worked in international development, corporate sustainability and social entrepreneurship for twenty-five years. She is on the board of Cacao de Colombia, a sustainable cocoa enterprise based in Colombia, and KadAfrica, a social enterprise in Uganda that supports women’s livelihoods. She received a BA from Vassar and her MBA from Stanford.
Executive Director, Center for Inclusive Growth, MasterCard
Parag Mehta is the Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the Center for Inclusive
Growth, the philanthropic hub of Mastercard. He leads a global team of professionals who are
dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are broadly shared and who work to
leverage the core competencies and assets of Mastercard to achieve the same. In this role, Parag
oversees the Center’s programs, data philanthropy, research, engagements and partnerships.
For nearly two decades, Parag has been a leader in creating positive social impact. From shaping
evidence-based public policies to organizing large-scale social change movements, he has
worked with diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the common good. He joined the Center in
2017 as Vice President for Strategic Engagement and was charged with building a community of
global influencers to secure the Center’s position as a private-sector leader on inclusive growth.
In 2018, he was promoted to Executive Director and Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Mastercard, Parag served as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the 19th Surgeon
General of the United States. In that capacity, he organized a series of campaigns to address
some of the most pressing public health issues of our time. Parag also spent more than four years directing communications for a civil rights agency in the US Department of Labor and served on Barack Obama’s presidential transition team as a liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and to LGBT Americans. Parag has been a member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service and held a number of leadership positions in advocacy organizations and political campaigns. In 2019, he was elected to Chair the Board of Directors of New American Leaders, a nonpartisan organization which works to place first and second-generation Americans in public offices. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University.
LALEH ISPAHANI
Open Society Foundations, U.S. Programs (2008-present)
Acting Deputy Director & Democracy Director
Laleh Ispahani is a lawyer and advocate specializing in U.S. democracy and human rights issues. At OSF, she supports the Executive Director of U.S. Programs with administration of the 70-person program. She also leads a team that develops strategies aimed at ensuring a more inclusive and accountable democracy. We support organizations that seek to protect and expand voting rights; ensure fair, independent and diverse courts; reduce the undue influence of money on politics; produce high-quality enterprise journalism; and ensure that the internet remains an open and secure platform for free expression and civic participation. In related grantmaking, we fund organizations seeking to ensure that national security policies respect human rights. Most recently, she has been responsible for launching and operationalizing OSF’s U.S.-focused anti-hate initiative. Externally, Laleh has led the U.S.-based Funders’ Committee on Civic Participation and served on the Steering Committee of a democracy funders collaborative.
Before joining OSF, Ms. Ispahani spent six years as senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union working on racial justice and human rights, where she sought to reverse felony disenfranchisement policies, and worked with allies on a national campaign that used public education and advocacy, litigation, and federal and state executive and legislative reform. As part of that work, she produced a documentary film, Democracy’s Ghosts, and published in academic and popular journals. Prior to joining the ACLU, Ms. Ispahani litigated campaign finance reform issues at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Laleh received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Juan Maquieyra (Argentina) is Chief Advisor to the Mayor since March 2021.
Previously, he was the President of the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires, responsible for ensuring access to adequate affordable housing for all citizens. In this role, Maquieyra has made the upgrading of slums a priority and is doing it with an innovative bottom-up approach. Before this, he was the Social Cabinet Coordinator of the City of Buenos Aires. He also worked for the Ministry of Education at the Buenos Aires City Government, as the Chief Negotiator of the teachers’ collective bargaining agreements.
Global Impact Entrepreneurship Leader, EY (Global)
As EY Global Impact Entrepreneurship and Markets Leader, Jessie brings together entrepreneurs, corporates and public sector institutions to help scale new technologies and business models that purposefully drive progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
A chartered accountant by trade, Jessie began her career in corporate finance before working as a consultant with clients across the social, private and public sectors. Since 2017, she has focused on combining public and private sector capabilities to help life-changing impact entrepreneurs overcome barriers to scale, primarily in emerging market contexts. She also serves on the board of several local and international impact enterprises and nonprofits.
Jessie holds a BA and an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, graduating with a First Class Honors, and is an alumna of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program.
