Leading with Purpose: Esohe Denise Odaro’s Journey in Sustainable Finance
Esohe Denise Odaro MBA ’09, managing director and head of ESG and sustainability at PAI Partners. Photo credit: Esohe Denise Odaro.
In an era where sustainability and finance go hand in hand, Esohe Denise Odaro, MBA ’09 continues to be a driving force shaping the industry’s future, from contributing to several key frameworks to championing diversity and inclusion.
In her current role as a managing director and head of sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) at PAI Partners, she leads a team in driving sustainable transformation across 40+ companies in healthcare, business services, industrials, and consumer sectors—advancing decarbonization, biodiversity, and supply chain resilience. Prior to PAI, she was the global head of investor relations and sustainable finance at IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. She is actively involved in shaping the responsible investing industry’s future, serving on Invest Europe’s ESG working group, the responsible investment advisory group of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA), and the private equity task force of the Sustainable Markets Initiative.
She marks her time at Cornell as a pivotal point where she broadened her horizons and changed the way she approaches problems. She says the 20 for 20 recognition serves as a “tribute to those who mentored and sponsored me throughout my academic and professional life.”
Odaro, well-known for using pragmatic, system-based approaches to sustainability issues, is one of the 20 for 20 Notable Alumni honored in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE) at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
Learn more about Esohe Denise Odaro in this Q&A.
Building a career in sustainability
Q. What drives your commitment and focus in environmental and social impact? What impact do you want to have in the world?
Odaro: I am one of seven children, and some might say fortunate to have around 60 first cousins. Our indigenous homeland is on the edge of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, where social and environmental injustices have been rampant. Social impact has always been a natural element in my life coming from a big family dispersed throughout a diaspora that exposes an almost infinite range of human condition experiences. Early on in my studies, I chose to study human rights law to be an advocate for marginalized people lacking agency. My work in climate is strongly based on the concept that safeguarding our environment and planet is fundamentally a human right.
Q. How do you continue to stay informed about emerging trends and best practices in sustainability, and how do you incorporate these into your work?
Odaro: Previously, I cohosted a top-rated podcast, Climate Biz, an aggregator of material sustainability news. Through that experience, I was able to make note of a few reputable news outlets and podcasts. However, in my opinion, there is no better way of keeping informed about practical trends than through building an extensive network of professionals in the field. For me, this looks like having an informal group of people who act as a board of advisors to me. These are people with extensive experience, respected in their fields, and passionate about scaling change and supporting innovation. Naturally, I take on a facilitative role, where I thrive off bringing experts together to build solutions. This is translated into practice across portfolio companies that I work with.
Tackling challenges
Q. Describe the biggest challenge you encountered as you built your career in sustainability and how you overcame it.
Odaro: In February of 2020, I was a sustainable finance expert at Georgetown University IFC-Milken Retreat in South Africa, en route to Hong Kong to speak at the climate conference. While in South Africa, it became clear that the emerging COVID-19 situation was considerably worse than I had imagined. Consequently, I decided to immediately return to Washington, D.C., to my then-18-month-old son and 2.5-year-old daughter. From that point, within a week, we were in lockdown. This meant a quick turnaround to working remotely with my then colleagues, exploring means of global COVID-19 relief. Our collaboration with partners led to IFC becoming the first organization to put out a global social bond during the pandemic crisis. We issued the bond the same day that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. This outcome was a result of three key factors: grit, optimism, and a collective desire to create opportunities for those in need.
We worked with investors to raise awareness of heightened social needs, resulting in tremendous interest. In fact, we had orders over $3.4 billion when the target was set at $1 billion. I am proud to have been a part of the precedent we set, bringing together investors to address social concerns despite market volatility.
Advice to aspiring sustainability leaders
Q. Can you share any insights or lessons learned from your experiences that may inspire current students who want to be sustainability leaders?
Odaro: As a young teenager, I remember watching an interview with Run-DMC where DMC was asked what he would be doing if they hadn’t made it. His response stuck with me: He confidently said he’d still be writing rhymes during his downtime at his post office job. I was reminded of this recently when I read James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, who suggested that whatever you do when you’re “wasting time” is what you should be doing for work.
When I was an undergraduate, there was no sustainability degree, and even if there had been, I’m not sure it would have appealed to me at the time. But my North Star has always been the preservation of human rights. Today, I believe that most sustainability challenges are fundamentally human rights issues. If you approach the topics that interest you with honesty, you’ll uncover their connection to building a better future for both people and the planet.
Your focus should be the overlap in the Venn diagram, the space where your passion and impact align.
Q. What is your favorite sustainability quote or book?
Odaro: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”—Native American Proverb