I’m Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Acumen, a global organization investing in solutions to poverty to build a world of dignity, and a proud member of The B Team since January 2023.

We have just experienced a year of profound change, which has only strengthened the importance of The B Team community. It has deepened our commitment to collaboration and reinforced our belief in the power of business to drive meaningful progress.

During this year electorates across the world have made their discontent with the status quo evident.

We heard this discontent clearly at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan last month, which I attended alongside B Team Leaders Jesper Brodin, Mary Robinson, and Hiro Mizuno. Billed as the first “Finance COP,” this year’s summit focused on restructuring our financial system to address the climate crisis.

The how of change

Outside the venue, protestors stood at the entrance, calling out the injustices and failures of the current financial system — and there was undeniable truth in their message.

Inside, many of the conversations still centered too much on processes — announcements, collaborations, and even financial commitments — without enough focus on the how of change. How do we move more quickly? How can we structure capital to make markets work for those left behind? How do we collaborate in ways that truly drive impact?

What’s needed is not just more capital but higher-quality capital. Concessional and blended finance vehicles, philanthropy, carbon credits, biodiversity credits, and other tools are critical to de-risking markets and unlocking private investment. These mechanisms are essential for getting solution providers off the ground and enabling them to scale toward commercial success and meaningful impact.

A focus on outcomes, not just processes, is critical.

Hard-edged hope

In a time where many nations are threatening to pull back on their climate commitments — especially in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election — the role of the private sector has become more essential than ever. This sentiment was reaffirmed time and time again during COP. And this is where we can use our power.

I returned from COP with a sense of hard-edged hope wrung from the growing number of financial collaborations focused on solving problems with greater urgency. And I returned excited that Acumen, with its focus on making markets work for the poor, played a part in a number of them.

One highlight of COP was witnessing the early impact of B Team Leader and World Bank President Ajay Banga’s bold and decisive commitment to bringing electricity to 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

Acumen is proud to be part of this effort, Mission 300, through our $250 million Hardest-to-Reach initiative, which aims to deliver off-grid solar solutions to low-income Africans in 16 of the continent’s most vulnerable nations. This facility — a collaboration of nine financial institutions and ten philanthropists — combines first-loss guarantees, commercial capital, and grant-backed support for early-stage investments and impact-aligned incentives. We’ve already made $10 million in investments and are energized to continue driving this effort forward. During COP, Acumen also announced a $300 million commitment to adaptation finance for smallholder farmers.

At COP, I joined Pakistan’s finance minister to announce the creation of the country’s first major climate facility. The urgency of climate action hit home even harder when I flew directly from COP to Karachi. In Lahore, the air quality index had reached an uninhabitable level of 1,900 last month, just a year after the nation suffered floods that displaced more than 30 million people.

There is so much more to be done.

A central role for business

Only when we use every tool at our disposal — ensuring an economy that includes those who toil daily to grow our food and produce the goods that serve us — will we build a world that is productive, sustainable and just. Business must play a central role in this vision. In this moment of profound change, we all need to step up.

Our interdependent world desperately requires new business models and role models in whom we can trust. My fellow B Team Leaders — individuals who see the power of business as a means to building a better future — have been a wellspring of inspiration and possibility for me. The diversity of this group, from corporate CEOs to civil society leaders and luminaries, provides perspectives, provocations and possibilities for collaboration.

I encourage you to also find your wellsprings to draw on for inspiration, seek out new ideas, and foster the hope and courage to create the change that we know we need heading into the new year.

"The Catalyst" is The B Team’s monthly newsletter which showcases ways in which leaders are advocating a better way of doing business. Subscribe to receive updates.