ESSEC’s second vegan finance webinar on Friday, June 24th, 2022

9.6.2022

Organized by ESSEC Professor of Finance Véronique Buisson and the ESSEC Finance Department, this webinar, called

Organized by ESSEC Professor of Finance Véronique Buisson and the ESSEC Finance Department, this webinar, called "From a Boosting Vegan Market to Animal-Free Finance", will address the characteristics of the contemporary vegan market, following its global growth over the years. The program will explain reasons to invest in the vegan and plant-based market and its distinctive characteristics.

Running from 9:30am to 1:00pm, this event, free and open to all, will be led by six speakers on Zoom: David Pannell, Nandini Roy Choudhury, Alexandra Clark, Manish Karani, Sebastiano Castiglioni and Claire Smith.

If you attended the first edition, you will be familiar with David Pannell, the co-founder of Promote Vegan and Vegan Business Tribe. After a long career in marketing, working with major brands and food manufacturers, he decided to advocate for the vegan cause by becoming a consultant for companies that want to develop vegan products, and by creating a vegan business community.

Nandini Roy Choudhury is a client partner, Food and Beverage, at Future Market Insights. She is a professional researcher who will speak about investments in the plant-based market and the growth forecast, among other things.

Alexandra Clark is another strong animal welfare advocate. As the Head of Office to the Vice President of the European Parliament, she raised awareness about the necessity to turn away from animal production and consumption. She is also a lobbyist for Humane Society International/Europe, an international animal protection organization, and an advisor for Veg Capital, which provides early-stage capital for businesses that wish to transition into vegan products.

Manish Karani is a specialist in finance. After a distinguished career in private equity, investment banking and finance within renowned companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse Investment Bank, in 2015 he founded his own venture capital firm: MVK Group. Shortly afterwards, the firm collaborated with Veg Capital in an initiative called Sentient Ventures, born from a shared aspiration to reform the food market. Thus, the purpose of the partnership is to do their part to withdraw animals from production methods by financially supporting founders.

Sebastiano Castiglioni is an animal rights activist who wears many hats. Vegan investor, entrepreneur, activist, advisor, Sebastiano Castiglioni is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to defending the plant-based and cruelty-free market. He also created a foundation called Plant-Based Empowerment Foundation, with the intention of empowering women and children in Senegal through organic agriculture, fair trade, education and plant-based diet. Besides all this, he served as an advisor for the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, for two years.

Deeply committed to the environmental and animal defense, Claire Smith is the founder of numerous organizations that help businesses renounce the use of animals. She founded an investment platform, Beyond Investing, and its affiliate Beyond Impact, as well as a fintech platform in collaboration with Dhanesh Kothar, Beyond Animal. She also set up a foundation, Beyond Cruelty Foundation, whose main missions are to educate the public on activities that harm animals and put in place safe havens for harmed animals.

This webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the booming vegan market, which can help meet the challenges of sustainable development, a key priority for ESSEC.