Series Beyond tech: From unseen lives to untapped value—rethinking sustainable investment #3

I just came across a new call for sustainability pitch applications, and it’s exciting to see how vibrant and active this space has become.

Over the past few years, I’ve attended startup events in Berlin, Nairobi, and other cities worldwide. The energy is palpable—bright minds, polished ideas, and bold visions.

I’ve seen impressive solutions—from menstrual health platforms to AI-driven carbon tracking to vertical farming in shipping containers. The pitches were sharp, and the room was engaged. Investors were taking notes.

These kinds of innovations are a crucial part of the growing sustainability movement, and rightfully so.

But as we celebrate this innovation, it’s important to remember that not every valuable contribution fits neatly into a pitch deck. There are quieter, often overlooked efforts that hold just as much transformative potential.

Take Anna, for example. She leads a knitting group in the heart of Nairobi’s informal settlements. Not a registered nonprofit. Not a startup. Just a safe space where older women, young mothers, and single mothers come together each week to knit, share tea, and exchange parenting support, life skills, and generational wisdom.

Anna’s group isn’t “scalable” in the usual sense. But she’s keeping dozens of women strong, stable, and connected—across age and daily struggles.

And then there’s Wycliffe, a soft-spoken man from rural Western Kenya. Wycliffe lives with albinism—part of a community often left out of formal opportunities. But Wycliffe stepped into a small local community center, volunteered, and kept showing up. Today, he’s a respected peer-to-peer trainer, sharing skills, encouragement, and dignity with others who’ve been left behind.

No pitch. No spotlight. Just quiet impact that multiplies.

We don’t need to choose between the spotlight and the shadows.

The visible, high-tech innovations are essential—they drive scale, awareness, and structural change.

But so are the quieter contributions that sustain trust, inclusion, and resilience at the human level.

Real impact—and long-term value—comes from bridging both.

From scalable models to everyday changemakers, we need the full spectrum.

Because when you invest in both the seen and the unseen,

you don’t just drive growth—you build roots.

And that’s how you lead in a world that’s changing fast, but still runs on connection.