The Volans Story

Initially based in Geneva, London, Oxford and Singapore, Volans Ventures supports the evolution and deployment of scalable solutions to the great global divides mapped in The Power of Unreasonable People. Full details will be released later in 2008.

Volans began to come together late in 2007, during conversations between John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan, Geoff Lye and Sophia Tickell. The central concept is that Volans will work in partnership with other organizations, providing a flexible, highly leveraged means to support innovators and entrepreneurs working to bridge—and ultimately close—the great economic, social and environmental divides that pose such a profound challenge to our collective future.

And our name? We have the flying fish (Piscis or Pisces volans) to thank for that. In Latin, volans meant ‘flying’ or ‘flying thing’— which seemed appropriate as we began to work toward a big jump forward in our field and working lives. Volans is also a constellation in the southern sky, first described in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria in 1603, which brought to mind thoughts of navigation and the deep structure of things.

Volans Ventures is still embryonic, with this beta website providing place-holders for several key components.

Meanwhile, we have a number of strategic relationships, most notably with the Skoll Foundation and SustainAbility, where three of Volan’s co-founders remain on the Board.