The Week in impact investing: Better day

TGIF, Agents of Impact! 

• Roundup: Expanding the solution set 
• Next week’s Calls: future of work in the US and growth firms in Africa and Asia
• Veterans find service through investing
• Ranking funds on social justice

🗣 Expanding the Overton window. I was a teenage socialist. Back when Bernie Sanders was the new mayor of Burlington, Vt., I worked as a neighborhood organizer and political foot-soldier with the other just-elected socialist mayor at the time, Mike Rotkin, in Santa Cruz, Calif. Rotkin, who died this year, ultimately served a record 25 years on the city council, including five stints as mayor. He also was the leader of our local chapter of NAM, the New American Movement, an explicitly socialist offspring of the anti-war and women’s movements. That was around the time that NAM merged with Michael Harrington’s DSOC to create the Democratic Socialists of America, of which New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a longtime member. So I understood the lineage Mamdani was invoking when he began his victory speech by quoting Eugene Debs, “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”

I did graduate and reluctantly leave Surf City, dropped the labels, and even punched my capitalist card at The Wall Street Journal. As readers must surely know by now, I remain smitten by the possibility of flipping finance from extractive to regenerative, from rigged to inclusive, scarcity to abundance. At ImpactAlpha, we consider “share the wealth” to be a solid risk-mitigation strategy. Markets are powerful; so is public policy. We look for what works, without worrying too much about ideology. Call us pro-social, without the “ism.” And so we are excited about the young, diverse, energetic vibe around the new mayor. “The people who see themselves in him are the same ones now transforming politics across the Global South: young, disillusioned, impatient with corruption and inequality, yet newly convinced that they can build something better,” the writer William Shoki told The New York Times. 

The broad desire for affordability, fairness and change that Mamdani’s campaign tapped into is its own kind of market-validation of the demand for a broader set of solutions than what’s been on offer (trillion-dollar pay packages? really?). Whether you favor predistribution or redistribution (or both), that expansion of the Overton window can only be good for Agents of Impact. 

At SOCAP last week, the ImpactAlpha team fanned out to collect strategies for community power, local impact and climate resilience. In our podcast conversation, Beyond Capital Ventures’ Eva Yazhari shared how she and her colleagues are rewriting the rules for investing in East Africa and India (see Podcasts and Agents of Impact, below). Lucy Ngige reported on the Growth Firms Alliance, which is mobilizing financing for growth funds in Africa. In a guest post, CSD Social Venture Fund’s Rosa Lee Timm and Bryan Edwards made the business case for investments in accessibility-first solutions with applications far beyond their initial markets. As COP30 gets underway in Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is drumming up support for a Tropical Forests Forever fund that would pay countries for slowing deforestation, as Erik Stein reported.

Ideology, of whatever stripe, is no substitute for smart, strategic and, most of all, sustained efforts. Erik wrote about the wobble in the market for blended-finance, as institutional investors warm to such transactions just as public and private catalytic investors depart. Amy Cortese unpacked the jitters in private credit that are putting even impact investors on edge. In an open letter, Blended Value’s Jed Emerson calls out the impact investing and social entrepreneur community for “its own process of quiet capitulation” in the face of what he calls the new American authoritarianism. This week’s election results may buck up the courage of those who would speak out. It may also help to forge collaborations across diverse constituencies, as business leaders rush to do business with New York’s City Hall (“We were just kidding – let’s do lunch,” as Bloomberg put it). JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon chimed in that income inequality and other issues on Mamdani’s agenda “are not Democrat, they’re not Republican, they’re not flaws of capitalism, not flaws of socialism. They are bad policy, badly executed. So anyone who wants to fix those things, I’m all in.” So are we. – David Bank

• Also this week. Dalberg’s Avary Kent and culture consultant Priya Fremerman have a helpful guide for impact job seekers seeking to avoid toxic workplaces. And Amy Cortese shared an update on Jamaica’s catastrophe bond and suggestions from Climate Finance Fund’s Marilyn Waite for how to help the Caribbean nation in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. 

Next Week’s Calls

📞 Get PluggedIn: Blending and braiding capital to power the future of work. Join Taj Eldridge of Jobs for the Future and ImpactAlpha contributor Sherrell Dorsey for a special edition of PluggedIn on how bridge funding, blended finance and braided capital can be used to create good green jobs of the future. Eldridge and Dorsey will be joined by members of JFF’s Investor Network Capital Allocators Initiative, including Green Power Ventures’ Reginald Parker and Edward Jean-Louis of Monte’s Fam. Get PluggedIn, Monday, Nov. 10, at 10am PT /  1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today. 

☎️ Answer The Call: Catalyzing local growth funds for growth firms in Africa and Asia. The recent “State of play” report from the Collaborative for Frontier Finance provides insights from more than 100 local business growth funds and details ways to unlock domestic and institutional capital for small business finance. CFF’s Drew von Glahn will join Mirepa Investment Advisors Samuel Yeboah in Accra, Kenya Climate Ventures Victor Ndiege in Nairobi, and Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes of Aruwa Capital Management in Lagos to discuss what’s working, what’s not, and how catalytic capital can do more. Join this special 90-minute Agents of Impact Call, Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 6am PT / 9am ET / 3pm Lagos / 5pm Nairobi. RSVP today.

And don’t miss this special in-person meetup: 

💃🏽 Step up, step out – again. With Morgan Simon and Iya Lingua, we’re reprising our successful SOCAP happy hour with an encore performance for Bay Area locals. Join ImpactAlpha, Candide Group, Toniic, ImpactAssets, Echoing Green and the SF Impact Crew for jazz, soul and informal networking, Sunday, Nov. 16, from 4-8pm PT at Cigar Bar (no smoking on Sundays), 850 Montgomery St. in San Francisco. Admission is free, but the event will sell out, so please RSVP here.  

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: In the lead up to the COP30 climate summit, the state of climate blended finance is a mixed bag; private credit jitters that are putting impact investors on edge; and, a preview of next week’s Agents of Impact call on mobilizing growth funds for growth firms in Africa.

• Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

🦸 Agents of Impact: At Beyond Capital Ventures, Eva Yazhari is rewriting the rules for investing in East Africa and India. As a former hedge fund investor, Eva Yazhari is comfortable making the contrarian bet. While other VC investors are swinging for grand slams with AI startups, Yazhari’s Beyond Capital Ventures is knocking down singles and doubles around the west Indian Ocean, one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. Listen in.

The Week’s Agents of Impact

Hard lessons and soft power: Veterans continue service – through investing. Hard power is on full display in Ukraine, in Palestine, off the coast of Venezuela, in global trade talks. “We believe that soft power – the ability to shape outcomes through attraction, values and partnership – is a more strategic, enduring, and ethical tool for global influence,” argue Nicholas Java and Andrew Lee, two US military veterans who now work for the emerging markets venture capital firm Beyond Capital Ventures (see, “Eva Yazhari is rewriting the rules for investing in East Africa and India,” above). “Hard power, whether military force, sanctions or trade barriers, has a place in world affairs,” they acknowledge. But such tactics often lead to resentment and dependency. In a personal essay in advance of Veterans’ Day, Java and Lee trace their journeys from careers in the military to scouting and diligencing investment opportunities in Africa and India. Java served with the Army on tour in Iraq. Two decades later, Lee was deployed to Poland as part of a response force supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. “Strength alone cannot build trust,” they write. “Real stability grows from partnership and shared ownership.”

As the US retreats from the global development stage, it is relinquishing the “soft power” that presence afforded. Java and Lee argue that values-based investors have a role to play in filling the vacuum. “Thriving economies, empowered citizens and trusted partners are the strongest deterrents to extremism and authoritarianism,” they write. Beyond Capital’s portfolio company, Clinikk, is expanding dignified, affordable healthcare in India, reinforcing the social contract through reliable service. Ampersand’s electric motorcycle infrastructure in East Africa expands asset ownership, improves livelihoods and advances a lower-carbon economy. “We back their vision with capital, strategic support and shared risk,” Java and Lee write of the entrepreneurs. “If we want a more peaceful, prosperous and democratic world, we must invest in it. That means deploying patient capital where it matters most, and with founders who are already doing the work.”

• Read their full piece.

The Week’s Spotlight

Ranking funds on social justice. What’s in your 401(k) or mutual fund? When mutual funds and ETFs are each made up of dozens or hundreds of companies, that can be difficult to answer. As You Sow launched Invest Your Values a decade ago to help investors see what’s hiding in their portfolios. The tool analyzes more than 6,000 funds each month and scores them on their exposure to seven sectors, including fossil fuels, deforestation, prisons and guns. This week, the shareholder advocate group introduced a new category for social justice funds. Companies that fail to address racial inequity, exploitative labor practices, or community displacement often face lawsuits, reputational crises, regulatory fines and consumer backlash, As You Sow’s Andrew Behar writes in his latest Fiduciary Future column. “These aren’t abstract risks. They hit the bottom line.” 

• Top of the class. As You Sow identified a dozen sustainability funds that earn a B or higher across for gender equality, diversity disclosures and DEI, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ equity. Ranked by assets under management, the top five funds include Vanguard Global ESG Select Stock Fund, Parnassus Mid Cap Growth Fund, Trillium ESG Global Equity Fund, Putnam Sustainable Future Fund and Boston Trust Asset Management Fund. “Transparency changes behavior,” says Behar. “Once investors know what they own, they make better choices. Fund managers, in turn, respond by creating new products.”
  
• Read his whole post. 

The Week’s Dealflow, Talent and Jobs

💼 See and share more than a dozen new impact jobs posted this week on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub and view hundreds of more jobs in impact investing and sustainable finance. Have a job listing to post? Submit it here. Catch up on all of this week’s dealflow reporting. 

Jesse Corradi, formerly with US International Development Finance Corp., joined CalSTRS as an associate portfolio manager on its sustainable investment and stewardship strategies team… Expect Equity welcomed Julie Won, former managing partner at Hanson and Doremus Investment Management, as portfolio manager of its second fund… Overture Ventures promoted Emma McDonagh to principal.

Ownership Works welcomed Sabrina Schick, previously with the US International Development Finance Corp., as a senior associate on its client advisory services team… Media Development Investment Fund added Patricia Campos, editor of Brazil’s Folha de São Paulo newspaper, to its board of directors… Matt Logan was promoted to general partner at Earthshot Ventures.

Impact Engine added Liz Michaels, former managing director at BlackRock, to its advisory board… Hannah Beinecke, formerly with Citi, joined Galvanize as an investor partnerships associate… The Center for Community Investment welcomed Stephanie Tyreem, former executive director of West Virginia Community Development Hub, as director of programs… Nathalie Renaud, formerly with USAID, joined Alborada Ventures as strategy and partnerships advisor. 

That’s a wrap. Have a wonderful weekend. 

– Nov. 7, 2025