How Balloon Ventures is (cost-effectively) banking the “missing middle” in East Africa. Big businesses can access credit from commercial banks. Micro- and informal businesses can get tiny loans from microfinance institutions or a growing number of fintech and enterprise tech startups (for context, see, “How technology is disrupting small-business financing in emerging markets – in a good way”). Across much of Africa, however, locally-owned small and mid-sized businesses – the kinds with five to 100 employees – "are massively ignored," says Josh Bicknell of Balloon Ventures. The U.K.-based small business lender cuts checks of around $25,000 to Africa's small businesses, a step above the $1,000 to $2,000 checks from most fintech companies. Balloon’s model: Bundle capital and business support services into a cost-effective loan product that can be replicated and scaled across business sectors and markets. “If we can make it work, then that unlocks a multi-billion dollar market, which people should be interested in,” Bicknell tells ImpactAlpha.
Afresh rakes in $115 million to help grocers reduce food waste. The San Francisco-based company developed an AI-based system to help grocery store owners manage fresh food inventory and sales to reduce waste. Afresh says more than 3,000 grocery stores in the U.S., including Albertsons, Cub Foods and Save Mart, use the product to cut waste by at least one-quarter. Afresh aims to reach 10% of all supermarkets in the country and plans to expand to Europe as well as other food categories. About 40% of all food produced in the U.S. is thrown away, and most ends up in landfills. Afresh says by year’s end, it will help its customers save 34 million pounds of food waste going into landfills.
How four institutional investors use climate action plans to map their paths to net zero. Two years ago, the New York State Common Retirement Fund set a goal to zero-out greenhouse gas emissions across its portfolio by 2040. Helping it get there: a climate action plan created in 2019. New York Common is one of a small but growing number of pension funds and asset owners and managers adopting such plans to guide their net-zero journeys. “Investment, engagement, policy advocacy and disclosure are critical pillars of robust investor climate actions,” Ceres’ Kirsten Spalding writes in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. Ceres is a founding partner of The Investor Agenda, which also includes CDP, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, and Principles for Responsible Investment. The group’s Investor Climate Action Plans Expectations Ladder sets expectations for investors looking to implement comprehensive climate action plans.
RMI’s Climate Intelligence Program is hiring a carbon markets manager in Boulder, Colo… New Story is looking for an impact investment senior manager in Mexico City… Chanel seeks a head of global sustainability transformation in London… Human Rights Watch is hiring a researcher of climate displacement in New York… The Estée Lauder Companies is recruiting a manager of sustainability and climate action in New York.
ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 11 – It’s one thing for a corporation to set environmental or social goals. It’s another to shift executives, employees and supply …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – ”$100 a ton?” exclaimed CDP’s Paula DiPerna on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call this week. “I should be popping champagne.” …
‘Tis the season for our lookaheads to 2022 and, thanks to ImpactAlpha subscribers, we are able to make the roundups freely available. So …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 3 – The New Capitalism Project has over the past two years dissected the failings of the current system and crafted a …
ImpactAlpha, November 19 – The boom in African fintech startups began before COVID-19. The economic shutdowns and financial dislocations of the pandemic supercharged …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – As the COP26 global climate summit kicks off this weekend, much of the focus will be on the massive …
ImpactAlpha’s Zuleyma Bebell and Realize Impact’s Luni Libes join host Brian Walsh to discuss the motivation behind The LIIST, our new monthly sampling …
Zuleyma Bebell and Dennis Price join host Monique Aiken to talk about this week’s launch of ImpactAlpha Open, trends in the media business …
“There’s an inherent power dynamic in investing. Full stop.” That’s Margot Kane, the chief investment officer of Spring Point Partners, in an Agents …
Jessica Pothering joins host Brian Walsh to dissect the crash landing of Airlift, and chew over the broader Covid-fueled boom and bust in …
Roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank join host Brian Walsh to discuss Rose-Smith’s latest column on politics and power in asset management …
At a breakfast meeting in Singapore a few years ago, Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber were speaking to asset owners and entrepreneurs about …
Jessica Pothering joins Monique Aiken to share the work of equity and debt capital providers in emerging markets, whom she met with last …
David Bank joins host Brian Walsh to discuss parallels between the LGBTQ+ community and the impact investing community. We also hear from Megan …
ImpactAlpha, June 6 – Pro tip for entrepreneurs or fund managers getting ready to pitch Oakland-based Kapor Capital: Don’t leave diversity out of …
FullCycle’s Stephan Nicoleau deconstructs the climate conversation at the recent Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum with podcast host Monique Aiken, and …
ImpactAlpha, May 26 — Donnell Baird arrived at Davos this week with his partners from Brooklyn and Ithaca, where BlocPower is greening thousands …
“My question when I’m really quiet, or even when I’m talking to close friends and colleagues, is one word: Why? Why does this …
New York State’s $279 billion pension fund understands the importance of planning. When the New York State Common Retirement Fund announced in 2020 …
This post is part of ImpactAlpha’s “Frontiers in Social Innovation” series with Stanford GSB Center for Social Innovation. The posts in the series …
It took Yulia, a mother from Kharkiv, Ukraine, seven days to reach the Polish border with her one-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son. They …
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Seeding Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Seeding Learning Labs. …
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with J&J Impact Ventures, ImpactAlpha is exploring the …
At Energy Impact Partners, we just released our 2022 Impact and ESG report, our fourth consecutive public accounting for our environmental and ESG …
Europe must wean itself off of Russian oil and gas. Energy efficiency can go a long way towards alleviating the pain. Energy efficiency …
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Seeding Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Seeding Learning Labs. …
We are living in the technological age, and a trend ReFED has been watching closely is how this is affecting food rescue, which …
The typical employee within a non-governmental organization doesn’t talk a lot to commercial banks, pension funds and insurance companies. But like everyone else, …
Love it or hate it, environmental, social and governance, or ESG, is here to stay. Yet there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. No sector …
Driving through Cincinnati, Ohio’s Bond Hill neighborhood, Tony Jones pointed out the street his grandmother used to live on, and the corner where …
ImpactAlpha, August 5 – In the roller coaster climate bill negotiations with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Brandon Dennison brought something to the table …
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 29 – Patagonia vests and khakis ain’t gonna cut it, says Taj Eldridge. To spread the word on climate action, the PhD …
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 8 – Amy Bell’s early work as a financier and advisor to impact funds and social enterprises helped establish the nascent field …
If the rise of a Black former maid to vice president was once unthinkable in Colombia, so too was the idea that the …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 10 – Payday loans. Car loans. Student loans. “One way to describe our economy is that it’s about draining every ounce of …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 7 – Where you stand on the incipient tech slowdown may depend on where you sit. Investors and executives in climate …
ImpactAlpha, May 27 – Five years ago, Olu Oyinsan felt an urgent pull back to his native Nigeria while working in the early-stage practice …
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Kevin Jones played an early role in convening the disparate, and sometimes unruly, tribes of impact investing under the tents …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 29 – The climate disruption is spurring a long overdue upgrade for 500 million smallholder farmers, who produce up to 80% of …
If it feels like one calamity after another, put yourself in Maya Winkelstein’s shoes. Open Road Alliance, which Winkelstein has led for a …
ImpactAlpha, April 8 – The U.N. chief and former Portuguese prime minister has a simple critique of government and business leaders saying one …
ImpactAlpha, March 25 – “I’m a horrible banker,” admits Holdsclaw, who served as director of strategic initiatives at the National Cooperative Bank. Holdsclaw …
The response to our call last week to ‘name your favorite impact investor’ demonstrated the breadth of the talent pool under the big …
“Hospitals of the future will become more like NASCAR pit-stops than inescapable black holes,” says Melanie Walker, co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s …