Behind the Impact - Joel Bird

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your role on the team and what your day-to-day responsibilities entail?

I love that my role lets me work across the whole Sefa family and a huge diversity of impact organisations. Most days, I’m on the ground here in Queensland meeting across the ecosystem to introduce Backing the Bold or, on my favourite days, coaching a Backing the Bold founder as they grow their business and impact.

The rest of my time is spent connecting the dots internally. I’ll work with the Impact and Advisory team on other projects for social enterprises or new proposals, I’ll chat with Sefa Partnerships about innovation or Backing the Bold’s Impact objectives. I also spend a lot of time with the Impact Investment team, reviewing applications together and increasingly supporting handovers of enterprises that are ready for investment. It’s a lot of variety, but seeing how all these pieces come together to unlock capital is the best part.

2. What's your go-to productivity hack when you need to power through a big project or deadline?

Generally, it’s a cup of coffee, headphones with some good 90’s rock music on, and blocking my calendar. I always make sure that I build a high level plan for what I need to get done. Not too detailed I get caught in the weeds, but with enough detail that I know what I need to do next. 

3. If you could switch jobs with anyone on the team for a day, who would it be and why?

Anyone! We have such a great team that I have so much to learn from everyone. My first picks would probably be Tanya or Ben, investment management is a space I have so much to learn in. But maybe not switch completely as opposed to just work alongside, without their knowledge I’d be pretty lost! 

4. What's the most interesting thing you've learned or accomplished in your role so far?

I’ve learnt so much about the breadth of social enterprise in Australia. From hearing about our large clients that are delivering incredible impact across hundreds of staff, through to emerging enterprises with just the founder, there is so much that is happening. My favourite accomplishment has been the growth of Backing the Bold, seeing early growth stage enterprises coming not the program has been fantastic, and I’m excited to see our first lonas coming through soon. 

5. What motivated you to pursue a career in this field, and how did you get started in your current role?

In my 20’s I lived in Rwanda and helped create some sports tournaments for youth in a refugee camp. But when my time in Rwanda ended, the program ended as well because the funding had been through me. That experience has driven a lot of my work over the last 15 or so years, focusing on that we need to think deeply about how we operate and fund impact programs so that they can be sustainable. That doesn’t mean everything is an enterprise, but that we think of the right program to deliver the right impact, and from there, the right capital.

After a number of years in international development, startups, and innovation, the opportunity to work alongside social enterprises and support them as they navigate thinking about the models that are right for them is my favourite part of being at Sefa. 

6. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing your team or industry right now?

For the industry, I think there are so many great activities happening, both in terms of capability, capital, government programs, peak bodies, training, etc. The challenge now is more about navigation; helping social enterprises navigate the options to access what's most needed for them. There's still a lot of mentalities across the sector and the community around how social impact should operate, and with the multitude of supports available, the biggest challenge now is helping enterprises cut through the noise, move away from the narratives they think they should follow, and instead focus on what actually fits their unique impact journey

For our team then, focusing on being strategic navigators with enterprises is a big need

7. What do you enjoy most about your job, and what advice would you give to someone who is interested in pursuing a similar career path?

I love the breadth of this work, coming along each day to meet with incredible social entrepreneurs who are creating fantastic impact in their communities, in all different ways, is an incredible joy. To then be able to walk alongside them as a trusted support and advisor is a privilege. The team here is great to work with, we all come from different perspectives, but I can see how they all come together for better impact and unlocking capital. 

My advice is to say yes, to follow interests and take risks. Building a mindset of asking questions, diving into what is really happening and then imagining what could be leads to some interesting situations, but that mindset is what we need. I don’t think many of us have had a linear career path, and I certainly haven’t, but there has always been a north star around looking at how we deliver and fund impact.