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Sustainable Finance, Before and After COVID-19: What the New Focus on Public Sector Investment Means for Blended Finance
Before COVID-19 hit, sustainable finance was on a clear pathway towards success, with private sector capital leading the way. Then the pandemic started, necessitating a massive mobilization of government resources and putting the public sector’s role in the spotlight. Massimiliano Riva at the U.N.'s Joint SDG Fund explores this shift, comparing the pre- and post-COVID prospects for sustainable finance in developing countries, and discussing how blended finance can bring the public and private sectors together to maximize their combined impact.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Investing
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The Pandemic is Not Over for Social Enterprises: Here’s How Impact Investors and Other Funders Can Help Them Survive COVID-19
Social enterprises are developing innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions to the world's deepest economic and social issues, but many of these businesses are at risk of disappearing due to COVID-19. According to Alethia Kang at Acceso and Luke Seidle at Kiva, impact investors and other funders must step up to keep the social enterprise field afloat. They share five steps funders can take to bolster these businesses, and discuss how the partnership between their two organizations illustrates the value of flexible funding support during a crisis.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Fintech is Not Enough: Why Startup Investments in Africa Must Diversify Across Sectors
Africa is often considered one of the world's largest untapped venture markets, and this potential has fueled interest in the region's tech startups. But as Elo Umeh of Terragon Group explains, though investments have been increasing, they have typically focused only on certain sectors, like fintech and off-grid tech. He explores the value in diversifying these investments across other growing industries, including edtech, agritech and martech, and urges founders and investors to extend their resources to build a robust and complementary technology ecosystem on the continent.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Building Back Boldly: How Decisive Government Action Can Support Entrepreneurship in a Post-COVID-19 Economy
COVID-19 caused a global economic contraction of 3.5% last year, inflicting particular damage on emerging economies and pushing approximately 120 million individuals back into extreme poverty. Consultants Kate Collins and Bar Pereg argue that disruption of this magnitude demands large-scale government investment – not only to address the pandemic's economic damage, but also to support the growth of innovative companies in an economy re-shaped by the crisis. They explore the impacts government interventions can have on entrepreneurship, and the importance of taking an ecosystem-wide approach.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Going Beyond Capital: How Impact Investing Can Become More Accessible and Inclusive
There's a troubling trend in the impact investing sector: Despite growing awareness of the need for more socially conscious investing, most investors don't know how to get started — and they often don't realize the breadth of opportunities they have to make an impact. Eva Yazhari of Beyond Capital Ventures explores ways to make this young industry more accessible, and explains how investors can — and should — address the bias and exclusivity that are preventing impact investing from maximizing its potential.
- Categories
- Investing
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Improving the Outcomes-Readiness of Implementors – A Key Step Towards Scaling Results-Based Financing
With less than a decade left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the development financing gap has widened. According to Gagandeep Nanda at Dalberg and Dhun Davar and Sietse Wouters at UBS Optimus Foundation, results-based financing can provide a solution. But though organizations have high interest in participating in results-based financing, many are not ready to take on funding that is tied to outcomes instead of inputs and activities. They share five characteristics of effective outcomes-ready implementing organizations, and five ways these groups can be set up for success.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Getting In the Game: How Wealthy Individuals and Families Can Bring Impact-First Investing Off the Sidelines
The vast majority of impact investments target market-rate returns, which leaves impact-focused enterprises with lower prospects for competitive returns struggling to attract capital. But as Mariah Collins of The Bridgespan Group explains, there's a group of influential and deep-pocketed investors who are ideally placed to change this dynamic: wealthy individuals and families. She shares findings from a recent report that aims to shed light on this largely untapped opportunity, and discusses why the shift to impact-first investing has never been more important — or easier — to make.
- Categories
- Investing
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The Wild West of ESG Reporting: A New Report Finds a Disturbing Lack of Standards and Transparency
Businesses around the globe have been embracing environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting to demonstrate responsible corporate citizenship and attract investors. But as David A. Fuscus of Xenophon Strategies, Inc. explains, this data is often inconsistently reported and unaudited, and nearly impossible to compare across companies. He shares the results of a recent survey on corporate reporting, and explores how widely used standards and increased transparency could better gauge a company’s actual progress toward more sustainable and responsible practices.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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