About Us
We’re driven towards a future where all forms of capital – human, environmental, spiritual, cultural and financial are valued and flow together to create businesses that benefit people and planet.
Where doing good while making money is everyone’s business.
Our Executive
Bessi Graham CEO & Founder
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With nearly 25 years’ experience working with business owners, governments, and large funding bodies to merge money and meaning, my experience spans from the grassroots of sitting in the dirt working with business owners across the Pacific Islands through to the United Nations in Geneva. This has given me unparalleled perspective.
As an entrepreneur, business owner, Angel / VC / Impact Investor, Philanthropist, Coach and Advisor I’ve done everything from:
- Being a decision maker on grant and investment committees driving over a billion dollars of capital into small and medium sized businesses.
- Using my own capital to grant to dozens and invest directly (both debt and equity) in 42 businesses.
- Being engaged by governments and leading financial institutions to design capacity building funds servicing multiple countries to build investment readiness in businesses in emerging and established economies.
- Setting up and being the cornerstone investor in the first impact investment fund focused on the Pacific.
I bring together the rare mix of systemic insight and practical wisdom.
I hold undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Monash, and Macquarie universities and The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
I am an Advisor to governments (including a Ministerial Appointment with the Australian Federal Government), the United Nations, and a coach for the Obama Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Program, as well as working with hundreds of business leaders around the world.
My pragmatic approach to pursuing a win-win is a breath of fresh air in a world that continually tells leaders they must choose either doing good OR making money. My work demonstrates how to merge money and meaning.
“Think like a system. Act like an entrepreneur”
This is the mantra Bessi teaches clients and practices in life. Bringing together the rare mix of systemic insight and practical wisdom.
- Graduate of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Monash, and Macquarie universities and The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
- Advisor to governments (including a Ministerial Appointment with the Australian Federal Government), and the United Nations.
- Coach for the Obama Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Program.
Dr Brad Graham Director of Design and Innovation
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Brad has broad experience and expertise in strategy and design, working with an extensive catalogue of large government, commercial and non-profit clients.
Brad’s particular expertise is facilitating executive level strategic dialogue and providing advisory and education services to large organisations seeking to apply design and design thinking to their organisational challenges
For the last 13 years Brad has worked with Benefit Capital and The Difference Incubator (TDi) to bring methods of design and innovation to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enable them to better tackle complex social challenges.
Brad is a gifted strategist, renowned educator, and facilitator. His unrivalled ability to draw out the essence of truly complex systems and communicate them in a way that resonates with clients is magic to watch.
- Brad brought strategic dialogue and insight to the Argyle Diamond Mine management team as they sought to significantly extend mine life and create over $1 billion in new business value.
- Brad led the team which brought design thinking and capability in strategic dialogue to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Through the Integrated Tax Design project, the ATO was seeking to transform its view of taxation from that of a technical and analytical problem to approaching it as a profoundly complex social challenge.
The executive team realised that dialogue driven design was a critical asset in enabling the ATO to design taxation systems that aligned with the motivations, needs and aspirations of taxpayers, thereby encouraging self-assessment and willing compliance with tax obligations.
- Brad holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) with an earth science focus and spent the first 12 years of his career as an Exploration and Mining Geologist in Australia, Papua New Guinea and across the Pacific Islands.
- Brad holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Social System Design; his thesis explored new methods of design thinking and dialogue to complex social systems.
As well as loving to push the boundaries intellectually, Brad is an adventurer at heart and dedicates an equal amount of time to extreme sports.
- Brad has spent months at a time on the road and has ridden his BMW GS adventure motorcycle from London to Beijing; through Africa; and across Asia.
- He is a dive master, technical diver, and cave diver.
- Brad is a qualified skydiver and paraglider.
- In his spare time, he enjoys mountain biking, road racing, and archery – Bessi would say that unless there is speed and/or danger involved, Brad isn’t interested!
Organisations We’ve Worked With
Testimonials
“Working with Benefit Capital has changed our view on a whole range of things. We now see opportunity where we would have otherwise brushed over things.”
Executive Feedback
“I’ve never seen the team this energised and exited! The confidence and skill to facilitate and command the room that you have built into the team through your mentoring is AMAZING.”
Board Member Feedback
“It was really powerful; Bessi gave me a lot of direction on things that I can do within my company now to have an even bigger impact.”
John Briggs