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Viewpoint: Misaligned Hiring Priorities Risk Taking The Impact Out Of Impact Investing
There is a risk, however, that the ‘impact’ part of impact investing becomes diluted if the teams behind these funds - whether launched by corporates or established venture investment firms - lack the necessary expertise in creating social change. This is a very real possibility - in researching the hiring preferences of impact investment funds to help students identify routes to careers in the sector, my Stanford GSB colleague Bernadette Clavier and I found that hiring managers don’t value expertise and experience in social change as highly as they should in their decision-making.
- Categories
- Investing
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Ease Off on the Accelerators: Why GALI’s Latest Study on Accelerator Programs May Be Overstating Their Impact
Early-stage social venture accelerators are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets, and they receive widespread acclaim – driven in part by positive results from research conducted by the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI). But South Africa-based investor Nicky Khaki cautions that, while accelerators can certainly have value, their benefits to participating companies may not be as clear cut as GALI's data suggests. He explores why the studies may be exaggerating accelerators' impact – and how they could do better.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Solar products maker d.light raises $41 million from African investment firm, others
d.light Design Inc., a San Francisco-based solar lighting and power products maker with operations in India, has raised $41 million (about Rs 294 crore) in equity funding from a consortium led by Inspired Evolution, an Africa-focused investment advisory firm specialising in the energy sector.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Impact investor Capria announces first close of $100m fund at $40m
Founded in 2015, Capria Ventures operates as a global impact investment firm. It manages venture capital funds and provides seed and early stage capital to start-up fund managers, investing in healthcare, education, financial technology, mobile and consumer, retail and e-commerce, and agriculture sectors.
- Categories
- Investing
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Microsoft connection: Capria fund, backed by Bill Gates, gets $20M from Paul Allen’s Vulcan
Allen’s investment arm Vulcan Capital committed $20 million to a fund being raised by Capria that will be used to back fund managers in “emerging markets.” Capria is raising $100 million for this fund and has selected the first couple firms it will invest in.
- Categories
- Investing
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Aavishkaar plans to raise $300 million for South Asia fund
Aavishkaar Group’s eighth fund, which is aiming for a first close by end-2019, will consciously avoid India and China and focus on smaller markets of Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos, among others.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Press release: OPIC Launches Venture Capital Program with Financing to India-focused Iron Pillar
New venture capital program to invest in later stage venture funds supporting developing economies.
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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The Definition of Insanity: Why Repeating the Same Approach to Enterprise Support is Failing Africa’s SMEs
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So in a region where 84 percent of SMEs struggle to access capital, why do investors keep recycling the same failed approaches when financing African enterprises? Mercy Mangeni and Joshua Murima at Intellecap discuss what investors and entrepreneurs have done wrong – and explore some innovative ways their organization is working to make it right.
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