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The personal growth of impact investor Caroline Limbosch

08/04/2024

Impact starts from within. Caroline Limbosch, CFO at Impact Finance, explains how inner growth, courage and connection are crucial to moving from conversation to action.

From financial expert to sustainability advocate, Caroline Limbosch embodies the shift from traditional business to values-driven impact. After years in mergers and acquisitions, she consciously chose a career with more meaning, purpose and the potential for systemic change. Today, she is CFO of Impact Capital – Pete Colruyt’s holding company – and supports companies, initiatives and funds with a strong social or ecological mission.

“At some point you have to go from talking to acting. You can prepare and mobilise people, but if no one does anything, nothing will change.”

In November 2024, Caroline joined The Inner Shift, The Shift’s community of practice centred around the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), with one clear intention: to discover how inner work enhances external difference. In this interview, she talks about how this track helped her get back to what really matters – and why courage and reflection should always go together.

What attracted you to the Inner Development Goals?

Until a few years ago, I was fully immersed in the typical tenets of finance – mergers and acquisitions, banking, strategy. Fascinating, but it no longer matched my values. Then I discovered the world of sustainability and impact. I realised that so many technological and innovative solutions already exist – many more than I had thought. But what is often missing to really scale up those solutions is the human aspect: connection and meaningfulness. That’s why the IDGs speak so strongly to me. Behind every policy or voice is a human being. And we need to appeal not only to their heads, but also to their hearts.

Why did you participate in this community of practice?

Out of sheer curiosity. I had already thought a lot about the big global challenges. Now I also wanted to explore the inside: how IDGs apply in my own context. Not to change my organisation, but to build bridges in my network and the conversations I was having. At Impact Capital, we already share many of those values. This was an opportunity to go even further and meet others on that same path.

Which theme touched you the most?

The theme of “Acting” touched me deeply, but it all starts with “Being.” That is the foundation. We need to take time to stop and reflect: who am I, what is really important? I often wonder if my work makes enough impact. It takes courage to keep asking that question. And at some point, reflection must turn into action.

Is there a moment in the programme that has stayed with you?

Yes, a role-play. One participant played a sustainability manager of a large, controversial company. Another participant challenged that image, which led to an emotional response. She was upset, because within her actual organisation she saw so much genuine commitment. That moment felt very real. Not naïve, but authentic. It reminded me how important it is to continue to see the human story behind every example. And it confirmed what I had long felt: that many sustainability managers in companies are truly committed – sometimes even more so than their organisation itself.

What do you bring to your work?

The connections. Meeting people from completely different backgrounds, and finding that we all have the same kinds of questions – that’s a powerful feeling. I’m letting the insights sink in for now. I don’t work in a big company with a programme to roll out, but I know I can incorporate these ideas into my own practice and conversations.

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