In this episode Olivia speaks to Maxine Gray about the history and role of the sustainable development goals, financial services’ ability to enable responsible and impact seeking investment behaviours, the role of philanthropy in achieving the SDGs and its potential to focus on creating strong partnerships, tackling global problems with local innovation, and so much more!


Maxine Gray is passionate about the intersection of sustainable development, business strategy, human behaviour and being a catalyst for societal change. She has a Bcomm (Economic Science, Management and Business Finance) and a Bcomm Honours (Business Finance and Investment) but considers herself to be a lifelong learner. Within her role at Investec Wealth & Investment she focuses on driving the development and implementation of business strategy, change management, and sustainability.  Additionally, Maxine is a Philanthropy Consultant working with Private Client Charitable Foundations in developing their strategic philanthropic direction of achieving sustainable societal upliftment.


Maxine is a UN Young SDG Innovator Alumni and Mentor on the 2021 Young SDG Innovators programme with the United Nations Global Compact focusing on sustainable business, innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals. Maxine was named the UN Global Compact Network SDG Pioneer for South Africa in 2020. The foundation of her career is in Risk Management and Governance as a former Operational Risk Manager within IW&I SA. Maxine is a One Young World Ambassador and Board member of imagine.nation (NPO) focusing on early childhood development and entrepreneurship in rural communities within South Africa.


To follow more of Maxine’s work, you can find her on Instagram @MaxineGray.