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Tackling Poverty Close to Home: Why Acumen is Boosting Financial Health in the U.S.
More than 40 million Americans live below the poverty line, and a majority live paycheck to paycheck. That's why, after nearly two decades and over $110 million of impact investments in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Acumen has expanded its focus to include the United States. Amon Anderson and Sarah Willis discuss how Acumen America, through its financial inclusion portfolio supported by MetLife Foundation, aims to build a future where low-income Americans enjoy stability, protection and prosperity.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Investing, Technology
- Tags
- Acumen, banking, digital payments, education, financial inclusion, financial innovation, financial services, fintech, impact investing, investment fund, MetLife Foundation, mobile finance, mobile money, mobile phones, social enterprise, social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, social impact, sustainability, technology
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On Pioneering Capital, Mentorship and Accelerators: It Turns Out You Can Do (A Lot) More With Less
Less than 3 percent of impact investment funds made their way to early-stage ventures in 2017. Sachi Shenoy and Nathan Byrd of Upaya Social Ventures believe the impact investing sector must do better. After several years of investing pioneer capital in social enterprises, they offer several solutions that take advantage of a "less is more" philosophy.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Four Steps to Avoid Dead-End Impact Investing Leads
Dead-end leads are frustrating for both entrepreneurs and investors. They involve wasted time and resources, disappointment, and the erosion of relationships – and sometimes the exchange of capital that's a poor fit for the entrepreneur’s business. To prevent these issues, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) has created an online toolkit to help impact entrepreneurs identify their top investor targets. Kimberly Langsam and Cathy Clark at CASE summarize the simple four-step process – and CASE will host a free online demo with more information on March 13 and 19.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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I’m not trying to strongarm CEOs to adopt my worldview, says head of $6 trillion money manager
Fink sent a letter last week to the chief executives of the world's largest public companies, calling for them to help improve society or risk losing support from BlackRock, which just surpassed $6 trillion in total assets under management in the latest quarter.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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How Impact Investing is Advancing Affordable Housing
For millions of people, especially for the 13.2 million who have worked with the organization to build new or updated homes, Habitat for Humanity is a household name. But many don't realize that the international charity that put “sweat equity” on the map is also pioneering a different approach: A pair of funds that invest in businesses that advance affordable housing via financial products and services. Jyoti Patel, global director-capital markets at Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, discusses the funds and their wide-ranging impact.
- Categories
- Investing
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Empowerment Mainstreamed: Applying Gender Equity Across the ESG Standard
With the emergence of impact investing, the time is ripe for a transformation in global business practices regarding gender equality and women’s empowerment. But for that to happen, businesses and investors will need to expand gender considerations beyond the narrow confines of the social dimension of ESG, says Linda Jones of Mennonite Economic Development Associates. She explores MEDA's innovative framework for helping enterprises apply gender goals across the ESG standard.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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NextBillion’s Most Influential Post of 2017: An Impact Investor Urges Caution on the ‘Energy Access Hype Cycle’
Ceniarth, an impact investor, has been actively engaged in the energy access sector since 2014. But now it's reducing its exposure to the venture-backed, solar home system segment of this market while shifting its strategy toward enterprises – for-profit, nonprofit and hybrid – that are finding the most capital-efficient ways to reach rural customers. Here, three principals in the firm candidly explain why they are reassessing their approach.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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OPIC Announces $3.8 Billion in New Commitments in Fiscal Year 2017
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today announced it committed $3.8 billion in financing and insurance across 111 new projects in fiscal year 2017 to support economic development in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Investing
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