Danny Almagor and Berry Liberman are pioneers of impact investing in Australia. In 2007, the married couple founded "Small Giants", a rare 100% impact family office that invests in businesses driving positive impact for people and planet.
Sounds like a dream job? But this wasn't the dream they started with.
As a child, Danny wanted to be an astronaut. He enrolled in aerospace engineering as an imagined pathway to be Captain Jean Luc Picard of the next Starship Enterprise. But witnessing a devastating earthquake while travelling in India planted seeds for a different form of service. Straight out of college, he let go of a lucrative job opportunity and founded "Engineers Without Borders" in Australia, mobilizing thousands of engineers to make a difference via aid work and education in marginalized communities across the world.
Berry, on the other hand, was deeply drawn to storytelling. After studying acting in Australia, she moved to Los Angeles and began her career in Hollywood. After a short time, however, Berry's focuses shifted to using business and capital as a force for good, in a world that was desperate for radical change.
These changes in career and mindset coincided with Danny and Berry's meeting and marriage. For two decades since, they have lived and worked together, bringing their diverse gifts - their skills, wealth, and networks - into alignment with the simple and profound Gandhian principle: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
In 2007, wandering through Hong Kong airport, the couple stumbled upon Bo Burlingham's book Small Giants. A book about companies that chose to become great instead of big. Inspired, and with Bo's blessings, the couple started Small Giants with a new vision that business can and should be a force for good.
At a time when the term "impact investing" hadn't even been coined globally, they committed to moving 100% of their wealth to solely positive impact businesses - something that's extremely rare even today in the impact circles. Small Giants also went on to become Australia's first certified B-Corp.
"You guys are just weird hippies with money. This is not how business is done," somebody told them. Yet, not only did Small Giants flourish, but in 2013 they also launched Impact Investment Group (IIG) where many more investors joined the journey of aligning their wealth with their values. This led to more than $650 million worth of impact investments by 2020, and IIG consistently performed in the top quartile of all venture funds in Australia.
Come 2020, the pandemic and the lockdown, instead of shrinking in times of uncertainty, they've launched a new impact funds manager Sentient Impact Group, to further mainstream the idea of harnessing capital to benefit the living world.
Danny and Berry recognize that if we reallocate capital without changing ourselves, we just change the face of the problems. "From oil barons, we will move to having solar power barons." That's where they see the work of Small Giants Academy, a not-for-profit accelerator, education and media initiative, to help move hearts and minds towards more authentic life-giving choices within, and greater harmony without.
Additionally, they have founded over a dozen ethical, sustainable, and regenerative businesses in several sectors including agriculture, property development, and impact investing. Between them, they have received dozens of awards including a Medal of the Order of Australia, Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and UN's Shared Values Award.
Danny has a flair for combining adventure with values - he was part of a team that broke the record for racing a solar car across Australia from Darwin to Adelaide; guides impact safaris to places like Bhutan, Israel and Palestine; and loves jumping on the trampoline with his three kids. Berry was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Dumbo Feather Magazine (now a podcast), which has reached over 500,000 people. She has interviewed hundreds of the world's deepest thinkers, philosophers, and change-makers and believes that "stories have the power to heal us and give us a vision of the way forward."
Together, they have been the best sounding boards and greatest blessing in each others' lives helping them make more authentic and compassionate choices, and nourishing the best in each other. They are also parents to three young humans and do their life's work in service to them and to the generations beyond.
Please join Ari Nessel and Navin Amarasuriya in conversation with this remarkable couple on a beautiful, courageous and inspiring journey to change the world both within and beyond.
