Thoughts

4 min read

2022: A Year of Tough but Right Decisions

Thoughts

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    EVORA

We make hundreds of decisions every day. Some of them small, some more material, but the decisions we make shape and impact our lives and many others around us.

The decisions we made in 2022 for EVORA Global were potentially going to have the biggest impact on what the company stood for and its future trajectory than any other decision we had made before. But it was not the first time as founders, we had been challenged with difficult decisions.

12 years ago, Paul, Ed and I decided to give up normal employment to set up our own business. We wanted to make a difference. It didn’t feel like a big deal at the time but in retrospect it was. After a year of trading we decided to invest the majority of our small hard-earned profits into developing our proprietary software. We had no experience but it felt like the right decision. Before the second year was out we’d spent around £100k of our own money on development costs. It doesn’t sound a lot now, but it was a meaningful investment to us at the time.

After a couple of years we started recruiting even though it felt uncomfortable with the constant fear the business could fall of a cliff in the next three months. We made a conscious decision to recruit based on culture and values. We wanted people who selflessly cared for others, for their work and for the planet. This is probably the most important decision we made.

We made lots of other decisions over the years. It’s said through your mistakes you gain wisdom. On that basis we must be one of the wisest businesses around!

Then in late 2021, as the stars aligned on all things ESG we made the decision to embark upon our very first fund raise, or even contemplation of a sale of the business. After almost eleven years of running an organically funded business, this was a huge decision for all three of the founders. We knew with the right rocket boosters strapped to us we could have a much more meaningful and accelerative impact on climate change on a global scale. It felt scary but we knew it was the right decision.

As we ventured into 2022 we were pretty sure a strategic sale to a large corporate would be the best fit. A private equity (PE) investor didn’t feel right based on the stereotype of being focused purely on the numbers; after all, we’re a purpose driven business. Thankfully we kept an open mind and after assimilating offers from a large number of varied interested parties we completed with a consortium, led by UK PE firm, Bridges Fund Management, through their Impact Growth Fund in October of this year. It was a really tough decision but we knew it was the right one for the business. We had found a unique investor equally focussed on impact. And our own uniqueness would not be diluted by a large corporate culture. We haven’t looked back since.

As we approach 2023, we face the reality of global governmental failure to make the tough decisions required to keep alive the possibility of restricting climate change within the parameters of the Paris agreement and avoid catastrophic damage to the planet and its inhabitants. But as individuals, we have the chance to make decisions that collectively, can achieve meaningful change and impact. Decisions that look beyond the here and now, that may be tough to make, but will achieve the best long term outcomes. I hope you will join us in having the courage to make the right decisions.