Featured insights

14 December 2023

Going Infinite – Eterna’s Book Club  

Despite the centrality of hard figures and statical proofs in the financial world, Going Infinite exposes the market’s inexhaustible credulity and willingness to suspend judgment when it comes to financial innovation. The book’s author, Michael Lewis, is not immune to the same fault. Presenting a deeply sympathetic portrait of the crypto-mastermind, Lewis possesses an almost […]
30 October 2023

Power and Progress: Our 1000 Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity – Eterna’s Book Club  

Two prominent economists ask if technological progress is always good for humanity, and what civil society needs to do to harness and direct Artificial Intelligence.     In 1869, French count Ferdinand de Lesseps persuaded a group of international investors to fund an astonishing technological feat – the Suez Canal. Joining Europe and Asia through a manmade […]
Gambling
27 October 2023

Doctored: how the public health community weaponised a tobacco ‘playbook’ against UK gambling  

A regulatory clampdown on the UK gambling sector echoes the war waged by the public health community against cigarettes. But these parallels are not accidental and reveal how clinicians use the long shadow cast by the tobacco industry to effect regulatory change across the consumer landscape.   Last month, a dozen public health experts published an […]
9 August 2023

Butler to the World: how Britain became a ‘servant of the rich’ – Eterna’s Book Club 

Consider this question: What clothing best fits modern Britain’s character?  Take a moment to ponder the technological advancements and historical shifts that have influenced its post-war identity, like the World Wide Web, commercial air travel, or even that cultural phenomenon of glam rock! One could imagine Britain embracing a variety of outfits: the clinical white […]
10 July 2023

‘The Age of AI’ and slouching towards superintelligence – Eterna’s Book Club 

Not for the first time, Kissinger fails the Turing Test. Fire, the wheel, the compass, the printing press, the steam engine, electricity and the internet. Some inventions alter the course of human history.   Could artificial intelligence (AI) be next? Since the launch of ChatGPT in November, the buzz has gone mainstream, exciting and terrifying in […]
31 May 2023

The Culture Map: Breaking Through The Invisible Boundaries Of Global Business – Eterna’s Book Club

In 1994, a Vietnamese Coca Cola billboard advertisement read ‘It’s so nice to see you again’, addressing the political moment upon its return after the Vietnamese War.     Using distinct adverts and campaigns to cater to different cultural audiences, Coca Cola has long adapted its branding to its cultural surroundings. Whether the soda drinkers are health-conscious […]
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Insights Lucas Blasco

Scaling sustainability: the voluntary carbon market’s breakthrough at COP29 

The voluntary carbon market has been plagued by criticism and lack of trust. The adoption of global standards will give investors the necessary confidence to fully embrace carbon offsetting   COP29 in Baku made headlines by tripling financing for developing countries, committing $300 billion to their net-zero transition. Yet, another equally monumental agreement—largely overlooked—was sealed at […]
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Insights Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen

Inclusion Illusion? Financial Inclusion as the new greenwashing 

Financial services companies wanting to capitalise on opportunities in emerging economies often claim to be driving financial inclusion in underserved markets. But are their commitments genuine, or modern-day greenwashing? How can firms truly committed to inclusion stand out from the noise?  The term “greenwashing” was coined in 1986 by the environmentalist Jay Westerveld to describe […]
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Insights

Eterna Partners and DL News Bring Industry Leaders Together for Crypto Mixer 

In collaboration with DL News, Eterna Partners recently hosted an exclusive crypto mixer, bringing together some of the prominent leaders in digital assets to explore the outlook for the industry in 2025. Set against the backdrop of the recent U.S. election results, the event provided a platform for thought-provoking discussions on market maturity, regulatory clarity, […]
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Ben Cope Insights

Twitter tempers and the evolution of the public sphere 

To shape influence in a changing digital world, communicators must embrace and adapt to decentralised platforms. Flexibility and a shareable narrative may help. When Donald Trump filed a legal complaint accusing Keir Starmer of “election interference”, the Prime Minister, who’d sat down for a two-hour dinner with the Presidential nominee weeks before, must have wondered […]
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Insights

Unlocking African fintechs potential through regulatory harmonisation 

Fintechs, regulators and investors must support an expansion of the Pan African Payment and Settlement System Two summers ago, McKinsey published a landmark report titled Fintech in Africa: The end of the beginning. Enough scene setting, the report said, readers (and indeed investors) are already hooked on the industry’s epic potential to transform the continent. […]
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Insights

Eterna Hosts US Election Private Dinner 

The upcoming US election presents extraordinary and unprecedented implications for American democracy and its role in the world.  It will offer voters two radically different visions of America in November, with profound consequences for global trade and security.  On September 18, following the Harris – Trump TV debate, Eterna Partners was pleased to host an […]
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Insights Lucas Blasco

We’ll fight them on the beaches: The revolt against overtourism 

Tensions about overtourism threaten to spoil the summer sun for local governments and the tourism industry alike. Both must leave their differences aside to find sustainable solutions or else winter may come early.   “Tourists go home”. This graffitied message has greeted many of the 85 million tourists flocking to their Spanish holiday destinations in the […]
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Ben Cope Insights

Eterna’s Summer Reading List – 2024

We’re placing our book club on hiatus over the summer to give us all more time to follow our own interests. Here are some of the books the Eterna team are looking forward to reading. Serra will be packing Stefan Kanfer’s ‘The Last Empire: De Beers, Diamonds and The World’ on her travels. With Anglo American’s announcement that […]
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Insights Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen

Growing pains? Communication strategies for a maturing longevity sector

The search for immortality, the elixir of life, is as old as human existence.  The finality of death and the promise of an afterlife fuels many of the world’s faiths, and history is littered with cranks, charlatans, and seers who claim to have discovered the philosopher’s stone.   But contemporary biology may be offering, if not […]
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Insights Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen

Effective Environmentalism & Communication – Eterna’s Book Club

By contextualising environmental data, we can better understand the realities of climate change, the progress we have already made, and how we can continue to develop sustainably This might be the sustainable future portrayed by the media, but Oxford researcher and Deputy Editor of Our World in Data Hannah Ritchie has a different vision. Her […]
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