Hello there, and welcome to another Batch of the Impact Bakery.

This week we zoom out from the individual "ingredients" to look at the systems that hold them together. Whether it's questioning if population density is really the driver of climate change or exploring how a closet can become a financial portfolio, we’re focusing on the leverage points that actually move the needle.

In this edition:

So grab your coffee and a croissant (or bolillo and chocolate) and let’s get into it!

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When I (Caro) first volunteered with Fefe, she asked me to measure the impact of a marketing campaign. I knew nothing about marketing. But I was curious about impact.

That’s how I found the Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework. At its core, SROI asks: for every $1 invested, how much social value did you create?

We used it to measure a campaign distributing medical equipment to hospitals during COVID and later measured the impact of the entire company. The final number was impressive, but the "tasty" part wasn't the cake—it was the recipe.

SROI is not just about the final number; it is about what you learn in the process. The framework forces you to:

These are all big words… but basically the model makes you ask: what impact was actually ours?

We realized we were claiming impact that wasn’t fully attributable to us, while missing impact we didn’t even know we were creating.

Later at the Msc in Social Business and Entrepreneurship at LSE, I met Eva, one of the brilliant chefs behind the SROI methodology. Plot twist: it wasn’t built for charities or companies to prove impact. It was designed to improve public sector value-for-money decisions.

Only later did people start using it for different purposes, which sometimes drew more attention to the end result than to the actual process.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

For us, the biggest return wasn’t financial. It was understanding the whole recipe before claiming the cake. 🍰

eBay just bought Depop from Etsy for $1.2B. We should care because it’s the one of the most culturally influential Circular Fashion platform ♡ LOVED by GenZ.

Etsy took a $400M loss on paper, but their stock jumped 15%. The market message? Profitability^* and focus now trump growth at any cost. Etsy signals they’re returning to its artisanal roots, while eBay reclaims their title as queen of circularity.

🤯The Gen Z Factor: Closets as Portfolios
For young consumers, clothes are circulating assets rather than static purchases. Your closet is no longer storage—it’s a portfolio to wear, enjoy, and resell. This isn't just a trend; it could be a resource management strategy:

BTW this is cited as one of the main reasons for the acquisition, per the Guardian, eBay’s CEO said the platform would help: “reach a younger demographic across the expanding recommerce landscape.”

♻️ Circularity in Emerging Markets
The global fashion industry is a $1.84 trillion economic engine that employs roughly 12% of the world’s workforce. Circularity is moving from a niche "green" idea to the core engine of emerging markets:

🔥 The Burning Question
If we could have it our way, we would all just consume less. But since the market isn't slowing down , the real systems-change question isn't if fashion continues—it’s how.

We need to move beyond symptoms and look at the resource management strategy:

Here’s what we'd like to know from you: is the rise of secondhand just a trend or are we watching a new generation pioneer a sophisticated resource management strategy to transform a broken fashion system? 

Reply to this email with your answer.

*Depop’s sales have grown nearly 60% year-over-year

Every baker needs an oven.

Ideas are important and founders are essential, but without the right heat, structure, and a steady temperature, nothing rises.

This month, we spotlight the "ovens": the funds that help create the conditions for impact to scale.

Maze believes impact is the greatest opportunity of our time, and they are on a mission to prove it. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, they are a 12-year-old impact investment firm combining multiple tools to scale impact and tackle systemic challenges.

📝 Their Impact Recipe
Maze doesn't treat impact as a trade-off or a side thesis. For them, impact and performance are structurally linked.

They believe impact is neither binary nor accidental; it is built. That is why they use toolbox-based approach, —combining venture capital, growth programs, impact advisory, and innovative financial instruments—instead of relying on a single vehicle.

No silver bullets here, just intentional design.

And they don’t stop at investing. By linking impact performance to financial incentives and continuously refining how they measure outcomes, they try to prove that impact can be rigorous, accountable, and investable.

🥣 What They Bring to the Table
We believe an impact fund should be more than capital with a conscience; it should be structurally designed to drive impact. Maze demonstrates this in a few key ways:

🧑‍🍳 The Humans behind the Oven
Antonio Miguel has been spreading his passion for impact since he founded Maze in 2013, breaking new ground for social innovation in Portugal. Antonio and the Maze team have helped shape a completely new model of impact investing.

A cool company in their portfolio is Goparity, a crowdfunding platform that connects individuals and companies with sustainable projects.

I (Fefe) recently returned from a month in India for the Miller Center Summit (and exploring this incredible country). I left completely in love with the architecture, the culture, and the people.

While traveling I noticed something. Standing in a sea of 1.4 billion people—roughly 18% of humanity—it’s easy for your brain to short-circuit. Looking at that density, I found myself wondering: How can we tackle a global crisis like climate change when so many people are simply focused on surviving?

But when you put the data on the "Bakery Scales," the perspective flips completely.

🧮 The Math is Not Mathing
Absolute scale is a liar when the denominator is that big. When you stop looking at the total and start looking at the individual, the "Scale Illusion" disappears:

Here’s something crazy, if every person on Earth lived with the carbon footprint of the average Indian citizen, we would be far closer to meeting climate targets than we are today. This is not a recipe we’re suggesting, but it does provide perspective.

The 1% Gap: As of 2026, the richest 1% globally emitted more carbon by January 10th than the bottom 50% of humanity will emit all year.

A design problem: If cement were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest emitter, accounting for 7–8% of global CO². This isn't about individual choices; it's a systemic result of how we finance and build our cities.

⛵ Plugging Holes vs. Bailing Water
Santiago from Toroto (our very first Baker of the Month!) once shared an analogy that changed our perspective. He said climate change is like a boat taking on water. To survive, you must do two things at once:

🥖 The Baker’s Take: Identifying the Leverage Points
We won’t solve the climate crisis by counting heads or slowing down development for the world's most vulnerable. We might be closer by finding the leverage points—the places where a small shift creates a massive ripple:

The scale is just math. To move the needle, we have to look past the surface and focus on the systems that carry the most weight.

That’s all for now. We’re here to provide the "food for thought" that helps you (and ourselves) dig deeper and ask the questions that matter.

But this isn't a monologue. What did we miss? What systems are you trying to weigh right now? Reply to this email and let’s talk. If you found a specific "slice" of this useful, pass it along to a friend who might want a bite.

Coming up next: We’re turning our attention to International Women’s Day. We’ll focus on women in the ecosystem and yes, we’ll explain why in countries like Mexico, handing out flowers or "congratulating" women misses the entire point of the day.

¡Buen provecho!

Fefe & Caro

Sources: BBC, New York Times, Morning Brew, Oxfam International, Our World in Data, Bloomberg, Maze Impact, Statista