This is the Masawa Minute, a snippet of what we’re consuming in the areas of mental wellness, social impact, and impact investing.
We’re over this COVID-19 thing. Done. This is the newish normal, so let’s turn our sights on that new reality and work toward achieving shared prosperity.
You know psychedelics are becoming more mainstream when the oldest lifestyle magazine in the US, Town & Country, publishes a piece about their connection to treating mental illness. This article gives an accessible overview of the history of research and approval searching + highlights the mind-altering experiences of those like Aldous Huxley, Steve Jobs, and Carry Grant.
This is an article you could forward to your grandmother. Maybe. [Thanks, Scott!]
Are Psychedelics Our Most Promising New Treatments for Depression, Anxiety, and Addiction?
Get ready to hear (even) more about stewardship, the idea that investments and corporations be run with a view toward long-term sustainability.
EY took a look at the stewardship performance of the top 30 UK investors who are signatories to the UK Stewardship Code. Our read of the report is that most are quite shite being (or at least transparently publishing) stewards. On the specific topic of social impact, one of the eight stewardship priorities, investors considered the areas of human rights, supply chain, and social contribution. EY considered less than a handful of investors “advanced” in these social impact measurement/reporting, and none as “leading”. Room to grow, indeed.
At Masawa, we believe in the topic so much, we named our first child Stewardship. Just kidding, but it is in our Articles of Association. [Thanks, Gina!]
[pdf download] Turning the tide to greater corporate accountability
As this virus is making us take stock of what’s systematically gone wrong while looking towards the future for how to set it right, discussions around the nexus of investment systems and blockchain are increasing.
Zoe Adamovicz, co-founder of Neufund, a blockchain-enabled fundraising platform based in Berlin, makes the case in this interview why blockchain-based investment platforms can be better for entrepreneurs and investors.
“We believe that anyone should have access to fundraising”: Interview with Neufund’s co-founder Zoe
Kat Koan, friend of Masawa and indie artist extraordinaire, recently released a new single and video called DOCTOR. This electro song brings a bass-infused awareness to the culture of pill-pushing and mental illness and is an ode to her own bouts with depression and the medical institution. Sexy and real, Kat crafted this piece at home, because she had no other choice! Our favorite lines are:
Eat my shiny, happy pills, capsules full of magic / colorful pills to serve all thrills; eat up, your life is tragic.
Video Premiere: Kat Koan – DOCTOR
Our little human brains can’t really grasp how much $1 billion is. Even those with beaucoup bucks fail to intuitively understand the difference a million, a billion, and a trillion.
This visual depiction of the wealth of the richest person in the world ($136 billion) and that of the richest 400 US-Americans ($2.96 trillion) is merely brillant. We were shocked how long it took us to scroll; it’s mind blowing that a portion of that $2.96 trillion could be used to solve malaria, pull all US-Americans out of poverty, and provide clean water and waste disposal for the entire world — and the wealth holders would still be billionaires! [Thanks, Andreas!]
We’re still living in a crazy time, but we’re certainly moving forward, fast. We’re in the process of interviewing for an Impact Research Fellow and an Impact Comms Fellow. We’re putting the finishing touches on our Friends & Family Round. Masawa Match has over 70 services now.
And we keep breathing.
Sometimes we need to take a moment to make sure that we’re on track with our own mental health in order to make the difference we feel is needed.
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Give someone a big [virtual] hug today + take care of each other! 🤗😘
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