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Talking Metrics: Is Standardization a Dream?
Last week I sat down with Calvert Foundation, Grassroots Business Fund and E+Co to discuss the use of metrics by socially oriented businesses. The conversation focused on how they use metrics within their organizations and what role they see metrics playing in the future. The discussion demonstrated the need to change how stakeholders view metrics.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Is 2011 Ghana’s 1978? New National Pension Fund Scheme Could Repeat History
In 1978, U.S. regulations changed to allow pension funds to invest in private equity (PE) firms, including venture capital groups, creating a tsunami of capital to new and growing firms. This year, key changes from Ghana’s 2008 pension law come into effect that might lead to a similar explosion in private equity and venture capital.
- Categories
- Investing
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ANDE?s 2010 Impact Report Charts A Growth Course
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) released its second annual impact report today, which highlighted the growth of the small and growing business (SGB) sector with the launch of new 31 funds looking to SGBs in emerging markets, in addition to the impact of their 110 members on the sector.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Egypt’s 800-Billion Pound Gorilla
With an estimated 800 billion Egyptian Pounds ($136 billion) in domestic deposits, you’d think Egyptian banks should have plenty of loans and credit available for Egyptian small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). Not quite; considering the fact that Egyptian government debt held domestically is nearly the same amount.
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- Uncategorized
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Why Global Social Enterprise Needs to Become Its Own Asset Class
Ashoka Fellow David Green makes the case that in order for the global social enterprise sector to truly grow, it must become its own asset class. That means taking the form of a pro-profit social entity with the right type of governance to insure fidelity to a social mission, while being supported with the right kind of financing.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- impact investing
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Impact Investment Forum Series: The Dilemmas of Inclusive Business Investments
What happens in a scenario of economic recession, when investors leave to find safer securities and venture capital funds become scarce? In this scenario, unemployment rises, along with the need for entrepreneurship, and the gap between the rich and poor grows. This is when the social impact of inclusive businesses is even more critical.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact investing
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Local ?Bridge-Maker? Turns Up at Davos
Shawn Ahmed is tweeting gleefully about the white all-access badge he’s been handed at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where politicians and CEOs are meeting this week to try to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. The 29-year-old Canadian landed a coveted seat representing the YouTube community after winning an international online competition called the Davos Debates. It’s a coup for a guy from Richmond Hill who ditched a graduat...
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
- Tags
- impact investing
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Investing Without Borders: Impact Investing and the New Indicators for FDI
There are many institutional factors that affect foreign direct investment and many are captured in the World Bank’s new Investing Across Borders (IAB) indicators. The IAB indicators cover 87 countries, incorporating survey data from 2,350 lawyers, accountants, consultants and other experts with practical knowledge of FDI deals in their countries.
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- Uncategorized