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1.3% Isn’t Enough: The Case for More Diversity in Investment Fund Management
Fund managers play an important part in both traditional and impact investing, helping to set development priorities by leveraging capital. But as Sagar Tandon of Moonshot Ventures points out, women and minority-led funds account for just 1.3% of the $69 trillion investment industry in the United States – even though they perform better than funds managed by white men. He explains how greater diversity in fund management could benefit both investors and enterprises, while gradually introducing an impact focus to mainstream investing.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing, SDGs
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India Needs Over $900 Billion in Climate Finance by 2030: This Roadmap Can Mobilize Private Sector Investment
India is committed to lowering its greenhouse gas emissions, but its goals under the Paris Agreement are not ambitious enough. Simmi Sareen at GreenFunder and Shravan Shankar at the BIG Green Collaborative argue that the country must focus on increasing energy storage and efficiency, decreasing agriculture and manufacturing emissions, and adapting to a more hostile climate. They explore how innovative and scalable technology can address these priorities by 2030 — and how strengthening India’s climate financing structures can help generate the $100 billion in yearly private investment this will require.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Too Risky Not to Invest: Why Funding Latin America’s Healthcare Sector Should Be a Key Impact Investing Priority
Healthcare enterprises across Latin America are demonstrating both their impact in improving health outcomes, and their value as high-return investments. But as Andrea Bare at ThinkWell and Anna De La Cruz at ADLC Consulting point out, impact investors tend to view these organizations as too risky to finance. They explain why remaining on the sidelines represents another kind of risk: the risk of missing out on a sector full of profitable, impactful investment opportunities – particularly in women’s health.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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Embedding Gender Equity Into Companies’ DNA: An Investor Consortium Builds the Evidence Base for Gender Lens Investing
As gender lens investing moves into the mainstream, investors and enterprises need support in getting buy-in for this approach – and in implementing it effectively. To that end, the Gender-Smart Enterprise Assistance Research Coalition is working to build the evidence base for investing with a gender lens, with support from the Performance Measurement and Improvement team at the William Davidson Institute. NextBillion spoke with Lisa Willems at AlphaMundi and Rebecca Fries at Value for Women about the momentum that’s driving gender lens investing, the challenges it faces and the work the new consortium is doing.
- Categories
- Investing
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When It Comes to K-12 Education, Where Are the Impact Investors?
For decades, reports have shown how schools in America are lagging behind their counterparts in other countries in key areas – particularly in lower-income communities. But though more funding could help schools achieve better results, impact investors have yet to contribute meaningfully to the funding of K-12 education systems. Mark Medema at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools argues that the private sector, led by impact investors, can and must play a bigger role.
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Taking Cold Chains Off-Grid: How Solar Powered Cold Rooms Could Dramatically Reduce Food Waste in Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 50% of produce perishes before reaching end customers, largely due to a lack of viable cold chain solutions. Maria Knodt at Energy 4 Impact and Ruth Kimani at CLASP explore how solar-powered cold rooms can address this issue, and highlight some significant technical and business model challenges that could undermine their impact.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Investing, Technology, Transportation
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India’s Impact Enterprises Need More Debt Financing to Grow: Here’s How Businesses, Lenders and Regulators Can Make That Happen
Many Indian social entrepreneurs struggle to obtain debt financing, as banks typically steer clear of these young companies, and alternative lenders charge unsustainably high interest rates. Meanwhile, India’s impact investors have shown far more interest in buying stakes in impact enterprises than lending money to them. Sudarshan Sampathkumar and Anuja Kadam at The Bridgespan Group explore solutions to this challenge, based on the findings from a new report.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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What’s the Matter with WASH?: Why Struggling Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Businesses Need More than Just Investment
Despite limitless demand, most water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) businesses – particularly those serving the poorest customers – are struggling to find a market and attract investors. Annie Hall at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor shares insights from a new report that explores where WASH businesses are going wrong – and how investors and development sector players can help.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise, WASH
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