NextBillion - A WDI Publication

About This Event
For decades, institutional investors have treated authoritarianism mainly as a political or ethical issue—managed by governance committees, exclusion lists, or country-risk experts—not as a primary consideration in portfolio construction.

That approach is no longer defensible.

Authoritarianism today functions less as a discrete regime type and more as a systemic institutional condition: the steady erosion of institutional checks on power, weakening of the rule of law, and degradation of information integrity. When these conditions take hold, as they are in the United States, they undermine the systemic frameworks on which modern capital markets depend. Performance of individual stocks and portfolio’s become increasingly influenced by proximity to power and whether the firm is in the good graces of political leaders. Jed has written a series of Substack posts about the risks posed to investors (large and small) by authoritarian political systems.

Our session will be a reflection on the drift toward authoritarianism in the US and abroad, exploring ideas regarding how authoritarianism—despite a short term run up in the stock market!—is bad for business and investors. We’ll review key concepts from Jed’s writings on the topic of authoritarianism as investor risk and then discuss the need for business and community leaders to raise our voice in opposition to executive overreach. An active discussion will follow, including how to slow democratic backsliding.

About the Speaker
Jed Emerson is founder of Blended Value Group, a consulting and advisory firm working with investment firms, funds, family offices and foundations to advance more effective wealth management and impact investing strategy and practice.

Emerson is a Senior Fellow with the Blended Finance Initiative at the University of Zurich, a Senior Research Fellow at University of Heidelberg’s Center on Social Investing in Germany and has held faculty appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford business schools. He has taught social entrepreneurship at Kellogg Business School, Harvard Business School, and NYU-Abu Dhabi.

In the late 90s, Emerson coined the concept of Blended Value to describe the reality that the value we create in our lives and through our investing is a blend of social, environmental and economic elements. While the value we create is whole, society asks us to choose between doing well or doing good, making money or engaging in philanthropy and working in nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Emerson’s last book, The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows, and Natural Being, explores how we may bridge the divide between how we think about doing well and doing good.

Time: 4:00 PM ET

RENMOZ, the largest renewable energy business conference in Mozambique, returns to Maputo with an edition entirely focused on accelerating business, investment, and on-the-ground projects.

Over four days, the event will feature institutional and business sessions, a multifunctional networking area, site visits, and the sector gala. Strategic documents will also be launched during the conference, including the 5th edition of the Briefing: Renewables in Mozambique and the new National Project Pipeline, which will bring together opportunities in IPP generation, transmission, mini-grids, and commercial and industrial systems.

This year, a pre-agenda – Road to RENMOZ – will also be launched, featuring preparatory activities such as:

an international roadshow, which will include RENMOZ in the EU for investors in Brussels;
a national roadshow aimed at identifying projects and stimulating the private sector;
a matchmaking program will be offered to drive partnerships, agreements and investment decisions leading up to June.
Organized by AMER and ALER, with the support of GET.invest Mozambique and as part of the Global Gateway Business Forum, the conference remains as a representative platform for the entire sector and a key space for dialogue and engagement among all stakeholders.

The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development

Learning from Experience

The DCED is a forum for learning about the most effective ways to create inclusive and resilient economic opportunities – aligned with the SDGs and grounded in practical experience in Private Sector Development (PSD).

This website is the leading knowledge hub on all aspects of PSD.

Conplus Meeting invites researchers, engineers, scholars, and professionals from the world to participate in the International Conference on Sensors and Sensing Technology (ICSST2026), to be held in Florence, Italy from June 15 – 17, 2026.

The African continent’s largest and most influential connectivity event. Join influential global business leaders and African policymakers at the event that sets the agenda for the next 12 months and beyond.

88% of attendees at last year’s event discovered new and valuable business contacts. All sub-regions of Africa gathered at one event.

Huge international presence with high-level attendees from 94 countries and territories represented last year.

This year, fintech and security each get a dedicated summit following MWC’s increased focus on verticals. Other summits include 5G and GSMA Open Gateway.

2025 sees the addition of the Ministerial Programme – a platform for high-level discussions on socio-economic development through mobile technologies and the impact of our industries on the UN SDGs.
Discover the showfloor packed with new technologies, products and solutions that address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

The African continent’s largest and most influential connectivity event.

Extreme heat is one of the fastest-growing risks for cities and communities, with the greatest impacts often felt by low-income households, informal settlements and people with limited access to safe cooling.

Cool Talks spotlight innovative solutions, policies, and partnerships across the sustainable cooling landscape. From passive cooling and refrigerants to finance, technology, and just access, each session brings together global experts to exchange knowledge, inspire action, and accelerate progress toward a cooler, more resilient future.

This UNEP Cool Talk will explore findings from new research led by University of Michigan in Brazil, Colombia and Burkina Faso about how passive cooling interventions can reduce indoor heat exposure in vulnerable settlements. Taking place shortly after Heat Action Day and World Environment Day 2026, the discussion will connect evidence on indoor heat with practical city and community action, from housing improvements and passive cooling to urban planning, heat governance and implementation through Beat the Heat.

Speakers:

Ekta Jhaveri – Moderator & Program Manager, Climate-Health William Davidson Institute

Eva Gurría – Partnerships and External Relations, NBSAP Accelerator Partnership

Aynur Kadihasanoglu – Senior Urban Specialist, Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre

Elsa Lefèvre – Programme Management Officer, Subnational Climate Action·United Nations Environment Programme

Ana Paula Pimentel Walker – Associate Professor, Urban Planning·University of Michigan

Julian Constantino Carvajal – Legal Consultant, Unidad Administrativa Especial de Servicios Públicos

Gabriel Harp – Director of Research and Creative Practice Development·University of Michigan

Access the agenda here.

Time: 15:00 – 16:00 CEST / 09:00 – 10:00 AM ET

Register Here