At 18 years old, when it came to choosing her studies, Clara Navarro had already assumed that she dreamed of changing the world and that her career would have a cause and a purpose. Attracted by the incipient fair trade movement, ethical banking and microcredit, she was going to be an NGO activist, but she opted for the most difficult path: like a Trojan horse, she signed up for Economics at Esade. Because she understood that if companies are the organizations that have power and influence, then from there deeper changes could be promoted. And so, after experiences in humanitarian organizations in Nicaragua, she was convinced that the third sector needed greater professionalization to carry out his battles, he chose to influence the business world by being part of it.
Her journey led her to work in consulting, at a giant like McKinsey, where she began to work on the concept of sustainability. From there she went to London, where she took the opportunity to complement her training at the London School of Economics in development economics. Clara Navarro has always liked to go against things. “In 2010, when everyone was going to London, I decided to come back and settle in Barcelona,” she remembers.
That was when he chose to take the big step. Upon returning, she became self-employed and launched, together with two other partners, the Ship2b Foundation, dedicated to accelerating the impact economy by working with entrepreneurs, investors and corporations. An organization that is financed by sponsorships, fees, courses and events.
Eleven years later, from her position as CEO of this entity, she has promoted a meeting, the Impact Forum, which just took place this week in Barcelona. “It is an event dedicated to people who wear ties, not for hippies,” Navarro jokes, to underline the vocation of this meeting that aims to combine business profitability with sustainable impact. To the criticism that usually rains down on companies about their greenwashing practices, that is, pure image washing operated under the umbrella of ESG or the 2030 Agenda, or Corporate Social Responsibility, Clara Navarro responds that we must distinguish. There are firms that intentionally lie and disguise it behind green actions or initiatives. And other companies that implement insufficient or partial initiatives and are criticized for it, when they should be encouraged to do more.
In his opinion, it is wrong to associate sustainability with degrowth (happy or less). He emphasizes that what we have to do is change the economic model, create new ecosystems to continue growing, but better. “From environmental impact meters to reforestation companies, the impact economy is an opportunity to develop new jobs and businesses,” he says. To do this, it will be necessary to find talent and human capital. Which is still scarce.
He admits that achieving his professional goals has come at a personal cost. Even so, she has had time to be the mother of two children, Valentina (8) and Liam (4), to whom she strives to pass on her enthusiasm and belief towards a more sustainable development model. Thus, the little boy reproaches her when she wastes water in the shower, while the girl has already learned that instead of buying plastic headbands it is more fun to make a cake with natural ingredients at home. “Conciliation is a fallacy,” she laments. “You always feel like you don’t arrive,” she confesses.
Scourge of the most extractive economic model (not only of oil companies, but also of fast fashion), Navarro leads the way in sustainability in companies such as Aguas de Barcelona, ??of which he is a member of the board.
But his true passion is music. As a child she sang in a choir and more recently she dared to try a more modern repertoire, performing the songs from Van Gogh’s La Oreja with an amateur group and asserting, in a small concert hall in the Gracia neighborhood, a notable stage presence. . One wonders what the world would be like if everyone practiced music.
