Impact is part of (great) business

Lume comes from the latin word lumen which means “light” but also “clarity”.

Our mission is to support great businesses in showing and maximising their impact to gain traction and, ultimately, market shares.

Lighting up new pathes

Why say “impact”?

Why not use terms like “CSR,” “ESG,” “charity,” or “philanthropy”? Because we’re advocating for a different approach.

“Philanthropy” involves helping “the poor”, typically through money, and “charity” refers to help given freely to those in need (based on definitions from the Cambridge dictionary). While both are crucial in times of crisis, they focus on quick fixes, often driven by funding and shaped by the giver, leaving beneficiaries as passive recipient.

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) are compliance-focused, with CSR emphasising company obligations and ESG focusing on investor concerns. Both are important but often miss social and environmental aspects not yet regulated, leaving many blindspots with transformative potential for people and organisations.

“Impact” takes a more rigorous approach to social and environmental work, aiming for measurable results that contribute to broader societal goals. It relies on two key principles: 1) a systemic approach to social issues that informs strategy and justifies actions; 2) a preference for human-centered design, drawing insights directly from those most affected by the issues we work on.

Many professionals in both companies and nonprofits use this approach, and because it transcends traditional ideas of promoting social good, it holds greater potential for triggering change.

Our Approach

We dare to be ambitious and aim for scalable, transformative solutions over short-term fixes. With academic expertise and entrepreneurial experience, we’ve learnt to develop creative and efficient solutions to address complex needs.
Impact is led by people for people. We believe that projects work better when key stakeholders’ drivers and needs are accounted for. Our recommendations are built from evidence and fuelled by collaboration.
Our collaborators are entrepreneurs and academics who preach for actionable steps with a vision. That’s why we design solutions that are efficient, down to Earth and tailored to your organisation.

I’ve always been driven to tackle social challenges, which led me to study Political Philosophy and Ethics at the Paris Sorbonne University. My career began in the Development sector, working for non-profits in France and India, including anti-trafficking organisations, and conducting research on Gender-Based Violence in South-East Asia and Europe. In 2018, I studied Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the London School of Economics, co-leading a project on healthcare access for children in Nairobi’s slums. That same year, I co-founded my first startup, ila Generation.

Seven years of entrepreneurship have taught me valuable lessons in navigating the challenges of early-stage ventures. With ila, I learned to pivot during the pandemic, manage remote teams across timezones, launch a Minimum Viable Product, and develop the ALLY app—a tech tool for safety in Smart Cities.

After a decade in the impact space, I’ve learned that while good intentions are important, systemic change requires more. The most impactful social innovations share three key elements: a strong organisational culture, a data-driven strategy, and clear evaluation checkpoints from to support monitoring and iteration from day one.

Lume Impact was born as a lab for social innovation, blending strategy with creativity to help clients track and grow their success sustainably. For us, impact is about more than numbers—it’s about stories, communities, and lasting change. This perspective fuels our work with early-stage founders and ambitious ventures to drive meaningful impact.

Meet our founder

Julie Sané-Pezet

Meet some of our collaborators

Tanaka Mhishi

Impact Evaluation · Facilitation · Team Culture · Partnerships
Tanaka is a researcher and facilitator with over ten years experience in and around the areas of social impact.
With a background that involves blending creative methods, qualitative research and strong facilitation skills, Tanaka specialises in helping organisations build sustainable relationships with new audiences and co-create impact metrics that capture the needs of a wide variety of stakeholders.
Vanessa Brown

Impact Strategy & Evaluation · Entrepreneurship
Vanessa Brown is a consultant, enterprise educator, and PhD researcher specialising in inclusive entrepreneurship and ecosystem development.
Her work bridges research and practice, using insights from monitoring and evaluation to inform programme design and deliver actionable outcomes for founders, funders, and policy stakeholders.
Farah Bogani

Impact Evaluation · Monitoring · Team Culture
Farah (she/her) has over ten years experience in human rights advocacy, policy development, strategy, research, and compliance with international and regional human rights law and mechanisms. She is specialised in environmental rights, artificial intelligence, democratic governance, and freedom of expression. Her impact is measured through systems thinking and a rights-based approach that brings a lens of equity, inclusion, and justice to her work.
Neharika Dembla

Impact Strategy · Team Culture · Entrepreneurship
Neharika is a strategist specialising in social impact, equity, and organisational innovation.
She has advised FTSE 500 clients on EDI strategy and employee engagement, developing global toolkits, leading inclusive campaigns, and shaping internal communications for workforces exceeding 300,000 employees.
She’s also a successful entrepreneur who co-founded several social ventures.