Image
13.11.2025
At Building Bridges 2025, leaders from the Julius Baer Foundation, Fourfold Foundation, Elea, iGravity, and Enviu came together for a crucial conversation on transforming bold ideas into viable, investment-ready ventures.
During the panel session "From Ideation to Investability: Building Early-Stage Impact Ventures That Attract Capital", Laura Hemrika (CEO, Julius Baer Foundation), Patrick Elmer (CEO, iGravity), Dieuwertje Nelissen (Executive Director, Enviu), Amanda Turner Ege (Executive Director, Elea), and Valerie Remoquillo-Jenni (CEO, Fourfold Foundation) discussed the complex—and often non-linear—path from concept to scale.
Laura emphasised the critical role of patient grant funding, the risks of scaling too early, and the need for fair, collaborative partnerships between funders and social entrepreneurs.
Backing Vision at the Earliest Stage
"We support high-potential ideas at the very beginning," said Laura. "Many of the organisations we back start not with a track record, but with little more than a powerful, visionary idea and a dedicated team."
The foundation offers grants for periods of up to three years, supporting innovators mainly in low-income countries. These resources allow the organisations space to test approaches, adapt quickly, and grow sustainably—without compromising ownership or mission.
"Unlike equity investments, grants let leaders retain full control of their organisations," Laura added. "In challenging environments, staying true to purpose is often more important than fast expansion."
Trust, Not Transactions: Redefining Funder Relationships
A central theme in Laura’s remarks was the importance of trust in funder-grantee relationships.
"Innovation rarely follows a straight path," she observed. "It's unpredictable, iterative, and filled with setbacks. Meaningful progress usually happens out of sight—long before anyone sees results."
Because of this, effective grant-making requires humility, long-term commitment, and a willingness to shift power imbalances.
"The relationship between funder and the organisation’s is unbalanced by design," Laura acknowledged. "As those holding resources, we must lead with empathy—listen actively, respond thoughtfully, and create safe spaces where honest conversations about failure and difficulty are possible."
Only then, she argued, can real innovation thrive.
Image
About
Laura
Hemrika
Laura Hemrika is the CEO of the Julius Baer Foundation, the non profit grant foundation of the Julius Baer Group founded in 1965. Today, together with its partners and co-funders, the Foundation dedicates itself to supporting initiatives around the globe focused on addressing inequality in wealth and education, reinforcing the Bank’s purpose of creating value beyond wealth.
Prior to Julius Baer, Laura was Managing Director of the Credit Suisse Foundation and Global Head of Corporate Citizenship & Foundations at Credit Suisse, responsible for all of the bank’s global philanthropic commitments, partnerships and employee engagement, including collaboration on impact investing product development and client advisory, as well as multiple sustainability, philanthropy, CSR and diversity topics. In this role she co-founded a number of public private partnerships including the Swiss Capacity Building Facility and the SDG Impact Finance Initiative. She also served as Trustee of the Credit Suisse APAC Foundation. Laura’s earlier career was in strategy consulting with Booz and Company as well as with a number of education and financial inclusion start-ups, NGOs and corporates.
Laura has an MBA from London Business School and is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
She serves on the boards of several organizations including the European Microfinance Platform, the Impact Linked Finance Fund and Habitat for Humanity.
Learn more about our partners
