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Accion’s Venture Lab Closes Initial Investments in Financial Inclusion Start-Ups
Accion announced the first five investments by Venture Lab, its $10 million seed capital initiative, which invests in start-up companies that help expand global financial inclusion. A pioneer and leader in bringing financial services to the underserved, Accion launched Venture Lab in April, 2012.
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- Press Release
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- Investing
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Re-evaluating Impact Evaluation: Why solely focusing on financials is flawed and other key points from a recent workshop
Organizations struggle to develop robust impact evaluations. If poorly designed and executed, an evaluation can result in misleading conclusions and waste precious resources. A recent workshop hosted by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs focused on outcomes data collection and analysis. Anyone concerned with social impact measurement, will want to check out these key points.
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- Education, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Building Impact Investing Momentum in Africa
Earlier this month, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation launched the Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF) to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable people throughout Africa. The fund was announced at the Impact Investing in Africa: Accelerating the Industry Regionally forum in Cape Town, South Africa. The fund will target projects that seek to enable capital solutions, foster entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote the impact investing industry infrastructure.
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- Investing
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- impact investing
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Ensuring a Resilient Financial Future : Reduced public spending is a reality for the foreseeable future
Last year, in partnership with several organizations, we identified a $650 billion market opportunity for financial advisors and investors to invest for impact in a research study entitled Gateways to Impact. Impact investing presents an opportunity to build a financial future for low-income communities that is far less reliant on variable funding sources.
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- Investing
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- impact investing
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NexThought Monday – Early Risks, Big Returns: What’s next for Impact Investing series – rethinking what’s ‘investible’
It’s hard enough to build a business that makes money in emerging markets without focusing on social impact. But that’s only part of the issue. Investable companies are out there, but too often we’re looking in the wrong places—or, we need to reconsider what’s “investable.”So far, Accion Venture Lab has found a rich pipeline of investable companies where others haven’t, thanks in part to our three-prong strategy: investing earlier, tolerating more uncertainty, and concentrating on big-picture priorities over returns.
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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- impact investing
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What’s Next for Impact Investing – Facing Market Realities: Why the environment is the core of impact investing in China
When I first started China Impact Fund, I thought that impact investing in China should give equal weight to the country’s social and environmental issues, just as what my peers do in most other emerging markets. As I am relocating back to China, my thinking evolved toward environmental for several key reasons.
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- Environment, Investing
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- impact investing
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What’s Next for Impact Investing Series: : 5 Things You Need to Know About Impact Investing Metrics
After the IDB joined the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the Inter-American Development Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority Initiative (OMJ), which focuses on Base of the Pyramid sustainable business models, restructured its impact measurement system across its grant and investment portfolio, putting Impact Reporting & Investment Standard (IRIS) metrics at its core.
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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- impact investing
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Made to Measure? Understanding Investor Challenges with Social Impact Measurement: Two new publications explore the upsides and downsides of metrics platforms
Never before have impact investors had so many social measurement approaches and tools at their fingertips to evaluate the effectiveness of their investments. Yet investors are keenly aware of their limitations and challenges. Purpose Capital conducted a interviewed more than 20 Canadian impact investors to better understand how they use metrics.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing