Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 17:36
Let’s talk about a few of these here. You see Ampersand. Talk about their company. What are they doing? And I’m curious, how did you meet these people?
Eva Yazhari: 17:46
Yeah. Well, we have an office in Nairobi staffed by two incredible individuals, one of which is Christophe de Montille, who runs our office. You know, South African individual who’s lived in Nairobi for a while. So we meet our companies really through the kind of 150 sourcing and co-investment partners that we have in not only Nairobi, but in Delhi and Bangalore, where we have presence as well. Ampersand is a really great business.
It’s East Africa’s leading e-mobility company. So when we think e-mobility in the US and Europe, we think Tesla. We think, you know, electric cars, we think Waymo. The reality is, is the way most people get around in emerging markets is on two wheelers. And so Ampersand created one of the first electric two-wheelers on the African continent.
But going back to the in love with the problem and not the solution, this company is a perfect example of that. And here’s why. They not only created the bike, but they started to develop a better battery. And then they realized that the rider doesn’t have a place to charge that battery at home. Just like, you know, you and I may have a charging port or plug it into the wall. That access is not the same where we invest.
And so they created a battery swap network. And that’s the key innovation of this business. They were so in love with the problem that they were almost willing to pivot to being an infrastructure energy company. And now over half the revenue of this business is coming from their charging, excuse me, from their battery swap network. And why that really matters is because other bike manufacturers can also plug their bikes through this network.
So their bikes can have battery swaps through this network. So the company has quite diversified revenue. One other thing that I will say about this company that’s really surprised us is, while this business is a low-carbon footprint company and is also riding the tailwinds of the Rwandan government outlawing internal combustion engine bikes as of the beginning of this year. So they’ve banned the new bikes on the road. This business has realized that their riders are not motivated by climate change.
Their riders are motivated by cost savings, and the rider is saving 50% vis a vis regular ice bikes. And that is kind of the beauty of this model is like changing behavior is not a barrier for this company. And to boot, the battery swap stations are sitting in gas stations in Nairobi and Kigali where the company operates. So the rider doesn’t even have to change where they’re going to get fuel for their daily rides.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 20:49
This is great. No, I love it. And then let’s look at. Well, we’ll pull that up. Any others from East Africa? And we’ll talk about India in a second. Any other interesting companies we should mention? I mean, people could check out the website. We’re looking at BeyondCapitalVentures.com/portfolio. You can see CarePoint, Cinch, Eden Care.
Eva Yazhari: 21:10
Let’s talk about Lapaire quickly. I’ll run through it quickly. Lapaire is what we call the Warby Parker of Africa. It’s a business that effectively provides access to corrective lenses, because so many people in emerging markets have vision issues, but do not have access to getting glasses and being able to see clearly. And this company has also been able to value engineer glasses.
In fact our Africa investment lead wears their glasses and don’t tell Warby Parker. But vis-à-vis Warby Parker glasses, they’re much more durable and they last longer. And he was really, really happy with his pair, which cost $20 for the like, premium model. And what’s great about this business is that they’ve scaled to seven countries and they have 99 physical locations, largely in Francophone Africa. It’s a very kind of copy paste operational, you know, operationally heavy business of opening brick and mortar shops.
But I think what’s fascinating about it is just to show, like the low hanging fruit, you know, this is a business that we do believe we can have a very strong return in because there are players who want access to being able to sell to this next wave of consumers, and Lapaire has been able to capture that demographic.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 22:42
Love it. I could spend all day just going through each of these companies. This is really fascinating. But let’s talk about India for a second. Which should we mention here?
Eva Yazhari: 22:54
Yeah. I mean it’s hard to pick the favorites. But let’s talk about Lal10. I mean, I think everybody knows that there are issues with manufacturing in China, whether it’s now tariffs, which we didn’t even expect when we originally invested or it’s, you know, just kind of issues around what else comes with manufacturing in China and looking for alternative sources. So what this business does is it allows manufacturers and and not only textile businesses but also home goods companies like Walmart or even, you know, kind of larger retailers of clothing to have access to a manufacturing base in the world’s largest democracy.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 23:41
Yeah. You can see Walmart, Levi’s on this.
Eva Yazhari: 23:45
Correct. Correct. Correct. Pepe Jeans, a very old school throwback brand, they make got certified shirts for them. But what the key innovation is, there are a lot of manufacturers across India. They’re just not connected via technology. So this business is a cloud factory.
So let’s say the Walmarts of the world, they place their order for their sustainable t-shirts in their private label. And the job of Lal10 is really to connect the company’s order to the manufacturers and ensure quality and help be the kind of layer of quality control.
And so this is a really interesting business because it’s enhancing an existing system, and that is absolutely one of the themes. We like enhancement models versus replacement models. It’s also making something that’s informal, like really small workshops of sewing machines or people doing embroidery and taking that to the next level and making it much more formalized.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 24:50
Let’s choose another India one.
Eva Yazhari: 24:52
Yeah, I would love to tell you about Clinikk if you just scroll down. So Clinikk is one of our more recent investments. We call it the One Medical Group of India. It’s a company that is making healthcare affordable and accessible for what we call the aspirational Indian. So think about like the plumber or the more blue collar worker.
That person really doesn’t have access to private health insurance that works for them. They have access to government hospitals, which I’ve been investing in healthcare in this country since 2009, which are largely unreliable. I mean, there are certain ones, there are certain certifications of Indian government hospitals that are excellent, but not everybody has access to that. Those are in the main cities. And so Clinikk is looking to create not only health clinics, but they also have a subscription model.
So not dissimilar from your one medical groups, and they provide access to inpatient health insurance. So what you can get is health insurance for your kind of catastrophic coverage, because coming to a clinic actually doesn’t cost very much. It’s affordable, it’s quality. But what you really need to be insured for is when you have a heart attack. And Clinikk also sells those health insurance plans.
So the company has multiple revenue streams in order to be able to add up to a very successful business that can grow and scale. They also have a proactive, more kind of preventative health care way of working with their patients as well that is really catching on. And they will also start to have telemedicine.
And this is another company. It’s interesting. I’ll share one more thing with you, which is, one of the themes in our portfolio is that we do in India, have a number of husbands and wives running businesses. It’s actually quite common. So there are two in the portfolio. FreshR is run by a husband and wife and Clinikk is as well.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 26:53
That makes for an interesting dynamic. But yeah healthcare I mean.
Eva Yazhari: 26:57
Family business.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 26:58
Yeah. There’s so much, I don’t want to get started with healthcare in the US. But yeah, there’s a lot of opportunity there for improvement for sure.
Eva Yazhari: 27:08
Absolutely. Yeah.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 27:10
Let’s talk about your book and maybe start with no investment is neutral.
Eva Yazhari: 27:17
Sure. As you know, I grew up in New York. I didn’t have the keys to finance. I grew up in Staten Island. Like, if you read Colin Jost’s book, you’ll basically get to know my own upbringing.
And it’s quite hilarious. But I realized when I learned the language of finance, like in sitting at dinner tables with people that had tremendous amounts of wealth and large portfolios, that there was something missing. And what was really missing was the fact that truly no investment is neutral. Like when I buy something or I invest in something, there is a ripple effect. I’m placing my energy on that company.
I’m placing my energy on that theme. I’m placing my energy in that country. Whatever I may be investing in. And when you know that, you kind of can’t un-know that. And I think it becomes a life philosophy. It’s a really powerful discussion, in my opinion, to start thinking about whatever your values are, whatever they are, are all of your resources lined up with your values? And to know that you can do that.
In other words, you are powerful enough to be able to say, my spending decisions matter enough for me to line them up with my values. My investment portfolio matters enough for me to line it up with my values. There are opportunities and I just see this as the abundance mindset. This is a way of thinking about what’s possible for your money, and realizing that wealth is also much more than money, and you can still make money and line up with your values. So that’s the thing about no investment is neutral.
It’s kind of the central theme of my book, but it’s a message for everybody who, you know, wants to kind of forget about that. Like, you can’t absolve yourself from the fact that anything you put a dollar towards, including your savings account, has an impact. There’s a trade on the other side. There always is.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 29:26
How do you think about, I’ll phrase this so you don’t have to throw anyone under the bus specifically, but decisions you’ve made to not make certain purchases from certain companies because of your values?
Eva Yazhari: 29:42
Yeah, yeah. The lowest hanging fruit was deciding which rideshare company to use. What’s great about being American is we’re spoiled for choice. So there’s really no excuse but to line up with your values. I mean, if you don’t think that the yogurt company is working for you.
Chobani has done a great job of building an incredible business that works for a lot of people. So I’ll give you kind of these affirmative examples. But for me, it was really important to realize, like, who’s leading the company that I’m, you know, sitting in the cars of and every ride is earning revenue for this business. And I just, I just decided to switch over to a company actually run by a friend of mine’s husband called Lyft. And, you know, Lyft is the relational rideshare company.
And that’s what I’m looking for in every single interaction. My life thesis is twofold. It’s to be relational in every way possible. And trust me, I’m a New Yorker. It doesn’t mean I talk to all the drivers. It doesn’t mean I, you know, small talk with everybody. But the second area of my life philosophy is that the pie is not finite. When I’m winning, you can win too. This is not a race to the bottom. This is not a zero sum game. We can both actually win here.
And that’s my goal as an investor. And so that was one of the choices that I made was to think about, you know, where my money was going and what type of leadership it was supporting. And I felt much better about making that choice.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 31:16
Thanks for taking that in the positive direction. I don’t know why my mind went to the negative, but on that.
Eva Yazhari: 31:21
Glass half full.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 31:22
On that. So what are some of the companies you do respect? You mentioned Chobani, Lyft, what are some of the other ones that you love to support?
Eva Yazhari: 31:31
Yeah, I think in the rise of B corporations, which I also write about in my book, it’s easy. It’s a little bit, there’s low hanging fruit here. Yeah. You kind of can just do the flip as my one of my friends who’s a marketing says, there’s this flip over of the product and you read what the ingredients are. And then you can also read like some of the other certifications that that company has.
And one of them may be B Corporation, which means that it is a company that’s been certified to care about all stakeholders. I’ll tell you that. I also think about my investing very differently, and I have put some constraints around what I invest in. And I do personally only invest in female fund managers. Being a woman who worked on Wall Street myself, being a little bit appalled with the 2% of capital going to women out of VC and also 2% of capital going to female fund managers. That’s my criteria.
It’s not meant to be exclusive at all there. As you can see, there are many male run companies in my portfolio at Beyond Capital Ventures. But I’ve just decided with my money, this is my criteria, and I would love to empower everybody else to take a similar view about what their values are.
But finally, I did want to share. I have a lot of love for the investors that have backed me, and this kind of falls into the same category as no investment is neutral. Group firms like Ellevest, Montcalm, Blue Zone Advisory, and Conscious Endeavors have all backed me in my venture fund. And these are all firms that represent, you know, hundreds of clients and have put us out to all their clients and done their homework and due diligence because they believed in my investment strategy. And it fell into their thesis around no investment being neutral and what they wanted to support. And so I did want to shout those names out, because I do think it’s really important to recognize those that have made it possible for you to be where you are.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 33:46
I love that. In regards to the book, the purpose for the company you do talk about in the book too. Can you talk about that?
Eva Yazhari: 33:57
Purpose-driven company?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 33:58
Yeah. Purpose-driven companies.
Eva Yazhari: 34:00
Yeah. So as you mentioned my podcast. And I think what I learned through that four season podcast, which may have a fifth season, we’ll see, is I was able to interview 100 purpose-driven leaders. And what I really learned was that the why and the intention is the glue for having purpose and running a business that can grow and sustain market cycles. I mean, it’s no different than the way Warren Buffett invested in his career.
You know, he stuck to an investment strategy. He had a purpose. He had a why. And he did fantastically well. And so I think what’s important to me is that I’m thinking a lot about leadership right now as a leader myself and growing my business. And what I’ve learned from all of the incredible entrepreneurs, founders that I’ve invested in or that I’ve interviewed, is that having purpose is what fuels success.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 35:10
What are some of the fan favorites here? I mean, we’re looking here at TheBeyond Capital Podcast. I mean I love the Lovebird Foods story personally, but what are some of the fan favorites that we’re looking at?
Eva Yazhari: 35:22
You know, I’ve had a couple of my own founders. You see Steve Biko, who built a fintech company. He’s the African in the third row there right below. Yeah. He’s built a business that lends to small businesses in Africa and has a 98% repayment rate and really strong interest rates.
If you go down, you’ll see two people I really admire, Keren Eldad, who’s my executive coach, who has a tremendous amount of purpose in working with her clients, and then also Ross Baird. Ross has figured out a way to offer investors access to real estate investments through the Opportunity Zone Investment Scheme and help to create better places for better communities, effectively. Better places for people to live. And he’s based in Atlanta, so he’s a good one. He’s a great communicator.
And then you also pointed out the CEO of Lovebird Cereal. I live with what I would call kind of a high performance lifestyle. I’m married to somebody with an autoimmune disorder. So we are consumers of Lovebird Cereal. But really, I love Parker’s story because what he does is he realizes from the inside of big food what’s not working, and he doesn’t complain about it. He just creates something that works and that consumers actually want. And I love that about him.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 36:54
Yeah. I mean, I guess I’m partial to like, food products. I’m always looking at discovering or looking at food products. And I like cleaner food products in general. So you can see here Lovebird, I was telling some people what I was eating and they’re like, you should try Lovebird. I think you’d like the grain-free cereals. There’s Three Wishes, it’s one of my favorites too.
First of all. Yeah. Thank you. I have one last question before I ask it, I just want to thank you for sharing your stories, your knowledge and lessons. And there’s just these even the little things that you’re saying that I think are golden. So I’m gonna have to go back to listening to some of the things, just like the things like, you know, be in love with the problem and some of those just to you it just rolls off the tongue. But it’s pretty profound when I think about it.
So I want to encourage people to check out BeyondCapitalVentures.com. You can check out the book, you can find it at the available bookstores, Amazon, and check out the website TheGoodYourMoneyCanDo.com.
My last question is just some of the mentors that have helped you in business throughout your career that we may want to just, you know, maybe a lesson you learn from one of them.
Eva Yazhari: 38:09
Yeah I like expanders as a, you know, kind of a phrase, that phrase for people who inspire me because I think today in the podcast world, you can actually learn so much from somebody that you don’t know. I love Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments. She is, I think she and I are really similar and I connect with her drive, her ambition. But I also connect with her willingness to just be honest as a leader and think about leadership from the lens of honesty. And I’ve learned a lot from her.
I’ve also learned a tremendous amount from Emma Grede, who runs SKIMS and Good American and runs a number of the Kardashian brands. And what I love about expanders who are not in my industry is I take from their industry and reapply it to my industry, and that makes me better at what I do and really resonates. And so she’s also a fierce female leader who I think, you know, is willing to say what a lot of mothers that are running companies don’t. And I, you know, certainly relate to that.
But finally, a little cliche, but I’m married to somebody who turns companies around when they have sometimes less than six weeks of cash left. And these are very large businesses, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of profit companies or not necessarily in that at those times, but at one point they had hundreds of millions of dollars of profit and revenue. My husband has taught me a lot and has made me a better investor, because I just get to have the passenger seat to seeing what goes wrong in companies day in and day out. And it’s made me a better board member. It’s made me a better negotiator. It’s made me a better investor.
And I’m really lucky to have a true partnership with somebody that goes, you know, beyond an incredible marriage and co-parenting, but really helps me see the world differently and is accretive to the value that I bring to my investors and to my portfolio companies.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 40:28
Yeah, that could be a whole nother podcast episode. What are all the things that have gone wrong with these companies?
Eva Yazhari: 40:33
Let’s do it.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 40:36
But no thank you. And I think you have your next book. It’s called expanders. I think there’s like a whole topic of expanders. So I know it’s probably like giving birth, like having a book, like, okay, I’m tired. I don’t want to do another one for a while, so think about that one.
Eva Yazhari: 40:52
So I actually think that I love that. I also think the title of my next book will be emerging and it’s happening in the next five years, so we’ll take it from there.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 41:02
Love it! Everyone, check it out — BeyondCapitalVentures.com, check out the book The Good Your Money Can Do. We’ll see everyone next time. Eva, thanks so much.
Eva Yazhari: 41:11
Thank you. It’s great to be here.
