E07 - Yvonne Bakkum, Independent Advisor and Board Member (Netherlands)

What does it take to mobilize institutional capital for real impact, creating bridges between developed and emerging markets? In this episode, Krisztina Tora sits down with Yvonne Bakkum an impact leader focused on boosting the positive impact of capital. Amongst other roles, she was the founding Managing Director of FMO Investment Management where she mobilized private capital at scale for the SDGs. In the conversation, Yvonne shares how she helped shape the Dutch impact ecosystem, from pioneering work with pension funds to making development finance more accessible, impactful and accountable. We explore why financial institutions matter in emerging markets, how risk and reward can be redefined for social good, and what’s still holding us back. Yvonne also reflects on building an impact firm from the ground up, alongside deep personal reflections on resilience and leadership. If you care about making finance more human, and doing it at scale, this episode offers both insight and encouragement. Please review the episode, share your feedback and subscribe to the podcast! You can also: Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org Follow Yvonne on LinkedIn To go further here are some of the references mentioned during the episode: Netherlands Advisory Board (NAB) on Impact Investment https://www.nabimpactinvesting.nl/ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) https://www.unpri.org/ Achmea Investment Management https://www.achmeainvestmentmanagement.nl/english FMO https://www.fmo.nl/ FMO Investment Management https://www.fmo-im.nl/en/ Sustainable Finance Lab https://sustainablefinancelab.nl/en/ Sustainable Pension Investments Lab (SPIL) https://spilplatform.com/ ABN AMRO Bank https://www.abnamro.com/en/home Triodos Bank https://www.triodos.com/en/about-us Triple Jump https://triplejump.eu/ Read Yvonne's bio: Yvonne is an independent advisor, interim manager and board member focused on boosting the positive impact of capital. Currently she is advising Achmea Investment Management on the acceleration of their impact investing proposition. She was founding MD of FMO Investment Management BV, mobilizing private capital at scale for the SDGs. Yvonne worked at FMO for 22 years in total and held various other positions including Director Private Equity, Manager Credit Analysis and Manager Business Development. Earlier she worked at ABN AMRO. She holds a master’s degree in business economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2022 Yvonne chairs the Netherlands Advisory Board on impact investing. She is a member of the Supervisory Board of Incofin Investment Management and holds several other supervisory/advisory positions. In 2022 and 2023 she was listed in the Netherlands top 50 ‘Women in Sustainable Finance’.