Transition mapping: a strategic blueprint for capital allocators?

A system financing platform needs to move us from investing in single point solutions to what we call the ‘1+1=3’ approach to funding and investing, where the sum of the financing portfolio is greater than its parts. This means designing a portfolio where individual investments are amplified by being strategically aligned with each other so that th... See more

How you build it

The taxonomy of a transition map focuses on the following elements:

But very few organisations are performing the analytical work to understand where the system is today, where it needs to go, how it could get there, and what all of this means for the deployment of capital. Transition mapping does that, suggesting a number of specific leverage points for transformation, and demonstrating the networking effects betw... See more

Leverage points for transformation. Analyzing the transition factors and the systemic challenges they give rise to enables you to identify strategic leverage points, the next layer of insight on the map. Leverage points are the strategic areas where a capital intervention can have an outsized effect on system transformation, creating ripple effects... See more

It means that the key question for a new possible investment is not whether it looks good on its own, but whether it adds value to the strategic portfolio overall, shifting your lens from looking for risk reduction through diversification, to looking for value creation through strategic synergies.

Systems maps are mostly useful as process tools, much less so as visual artefacts for outsiders who did not engage in building them.

These points are the spaces where funders and investors should crowd capital into in order to enable the transformation — in this case the transition to regenerative agriculture. This is therefore the crux of the mapping process, essential for funders and investors to understand. It is key to note that leverage points are interlinked — in many case... See more

A brief backgrounder on transition mapping

In practical terms, this type of mapping — instead of representing the current state of the system, as most system maps do — highlights the underlying drivers and blockers of change of any system transition, enabling us to more effectively pinpoint the strategic intervention areas which can support that tr... See more

We need to work at developing and nurturing constellations of investors and funders committed to a shared mission, and nudge them to start channelling capital in a strategically aligned way.