Agents of Impact
Agents of Impact | January 27, 2023
Gary Forster, Publish What You Fund: Holding development finance institutions accountable for impact
ImpactAlpha, January 27 – Gary Forster left his job in logistics at Procter & Gamble to volunteer in Zambia, inspired by the 2005 …
Agents of Impact | January 20, 2023
Demetric Duckett, Living Cities: New decision-makers for the new majority (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …
Agents of Impact | January 13, 2023
Laurie Spengler, Courageous Capital Advisors: Structuring and designing finance for impact
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 13 – A small-business lender in the Mississippi delta. A microfinance bank in Uganda. A global development finance institution in London. Laurie …
Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund
Agents of Impact | December 16, 2022
Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund: Restorative capital for Black wealth
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – Napoleon Wallace’s presence was all over the recent Mission Investors Exchange conference in Baltimore. …As the co-founder of Activest, which …
Agents of Impact | December 9, 2022
Eric Berlow, Vibrant Data Labs: Visualizing the flows of climate finance
“I love complexity,” says Berlow, founder of Vibrant Data Labs, a “social impact data science” group. An ecologist and data nerd, Berlow spent …
Fifty Years' Seth Bannon
Agents of Impact | December 2, 2022
Seth Bannon, Fifty Years: Big swings at big challenges (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 2 – Back in 1931, Winston Churchill predicted we’d grow real meat without the animals. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug …
Agents of Impact | November 4, 2022
Mia Mottley, Barbados: Shaping the global finance agenda.
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4 – Barbados is an island nation of just 166 square miles and less than 300,000 inhabitants. But its leader, Mia …
photo credit: Jim Hill/CPR News
Agents of Impact | October 28, 2022
Blake Jones, Kachuwa Impact Fund: Making co-ops work for investors, too.
Blake Jones is “a cooperative geek.” After co-founding four co-op enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Clean Energy Credit Union, he has brought the …
Agents of Impact | October 7, 2022
Regina Kline, Enable Ventures: Closing the disability gap
ImpactAlpha, October 7 – Regina Kline has seen the state of labor and employment for disabled Americans up close, as a lawyer representing workers …
Agents of Impact | September 23, 2022
Suzanne Biegel, GenderSmart: Making markets work for women and the world
ImpactAlpha, September 23 – Women are hot… investments. So declared ImpactAlpha back in 2014, when we used quote marks for investors unfamiliar with “gender …
Agents of Impact | August 19, 2022
Charley Cummings, Walden Mutual Bank: Sustainable lending for sustainable food
Within the next few weeks, if everything goes according to plan, the first customers will make deposits in New Hampshire-based Walden Mutual Bank, …
Photo credit: Annie O'Neill
Agents of Impact | August 5, 2022
Brandon Dennison, Coalfield Development: Forging a path for Appalachia’s green economy
ImpactAlpha, August 5 – In the roller coaster climate bill negotiations with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Brandon Dennison brought something to the table …
Agents of Impact | July 29, 2022
Taj Eldridge of Include Ventures: Putting the cool in climate action
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 29 – Patagonia vests and khakis ain’t gonna cut it, says Taj Eldridge. To spread the word on climate action, the PhD …
Amy Bell, The Cook's Nook
Agents of Impact | July 8, 2022
Amy Bell, The Cook’s Nook: Planting seeds for impact
ImpactAlpha, Jul. 8 – Amy Bell’s early work as a financier and advisor to impact funds and social enterprises helped establish the nascent field …
Colombia's Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez
Agents of Impact | June 25, 2022
New Climate Leaders: Winning with a green agenda
If the rise of a Black former maid to vice president was once unthinkable in Colombia, so too was the idea that the …
Agents of Impact | June 10, 2022
Elyse Cherry, BlueHub Capital: Creating equity for healthy communities
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 10 – Payday loans. Car loans. Student loans. “One way to describe our economy is that it’s about draining every ounce of …
Agents of Impact | June 7, 2022
In Silicon Valley, talent follows the capital – and the optimists – into climate tech
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 7 – Where you stand on the incipient tech slowdown may depend on where you sit. Investors and executives in climate …
Agents of Impact | May 27, 2022
Olu Oyinsan, Oui Capital: Investing in Africa’s mass market
ImpactAlpha, May 27 – Five years ago, Olu Oyinsan felt an urgent pull back to his native Nigeria while working in the early-stage practice …
Agents of Impact | May 6, 2022
Kevin Jones, Neighborhood Economics: Turning strangers into unlikely allies
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Kevin Jones played an early role in convening the disparate, and sometimes unruly, tribes of impact investing under the tents …
Agents of Impact | April 29, 2022
Farmerline’s Alloysius Attah: Helping farmers in Africa produce and sell more food
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 29 – The climate disruption is spurring a long overdue upgrade for 500 million smallholder farmers, who produce up to 80% of …
Agents of Impact | April 15, 2022
Maya Winkelstein, Open Road Alliance: Helping social enterprises through life’s ‘OMG’ moments
If it feels like one calamity after another, put yourself in Maya Winkelstein’s shoes. Open Road Alliance, which Winkelstein has led for a …
Agents of Impact | April 8, 2022
António Guterres, United Nations: Calling ‘BS’ on climate double-speak
ImpactAlpha, April 8 – The U.N. chief and former Portuguese prime minister has a simple critique of government and business leaders saying one …
Agents of Impact | March 25, 2022
John Holdsclaw IV, Rochdale Capital: Advancing co-ops and community ownership
ImpactAlpha, March 25 – “I’m a horrible banker,” admits Holdsclaw, who served as director of strategic initiatives at the National Cooperative Bank. Holdsclaw …
Agents of Impact | March 18, 2022
Carmen Correa, Pro Mujer: Standing by low-income women to lift Latin America
ImpactAlpha, March 18 – Billions of dollars of venture capital are flooding into Latin America. Everybody wants to be a gender-lens investor. And …
Photo credit: Advantage Capital.
Agents of Impact | March 4, 2022
Sandra Moore, Advantage Capital: Bringing capital to entrepreneurs of color
ImpactAlpha, March 4 — New Orleans-based Advantage Capital seeks out businesses in underserved communities, in part because that’s where subsidies are available under …
Agents of Impact | February 18, 2022
Ambar Amleh, Ibtikar Fund: Putting Palestinian entrepreneurs on the map
ImpactAlpha, February 18 – The risk factors for a venture fund based in Ramallah, Palestine are obvious; the opportunities perhaps less so. “The …
BlueMark's Christina Leijonhufvud
Agents of Impact | February 4, 2022
Christina Leijonhufvud, BlueMark: Creating a benchmark for impact integrity
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 4 – Of the nine “Operating Principles for Impact Management,” arguably the most important is the last one: “publicly disclose alignment” and …
Agents of Impact | January 28, 2022
Sheena Brown, Decolonizing Wealth Project: Elevating Indigenous leadership
ImpactAlpha, January 28 –The climate crisis galvanized attention on Indigenous communities. Sheena Brown is seizing the moment to fund and empower Indigenous-led organizations …
Marcus Whitney.
Agents of Impact | January 21, 2022
Marcus Whitney, Jumpstart Nova: Investing in Black healthcare innovators
ImpactAlpha, January 21 — For years, Marcus Whitney has been the only Black healthcare venture capital partner in Nashville, a city awash in …
Harry Halloran
Agents of Impact | January 14, 2022
Big vision and early bets: Harry Halloran leaves a legacy of business as a force for good
ImpactAlpha, Jan 14 – Harry Halloran had a big vision and tried to make it reality: Business could be a driving force for …
Agents of Impact | December 28, 2021
ImpactAlpha’s Holiday List No. 3: A dozen Agents of Impact who took leadership in 2021
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 28 – Of course we follow the money. But ImpactAlpha also follows the talent. In dozens of profiles this year, we highlighted …
Wikicommons
Agents of Impact | December 10, 2021
Chris Sacca: ‘Cheaper, better, faster, stronger, simpler and just plain cooler’
If climate tech is the new software, Chris Sacca is the new, well, Chris Sacca. The Google executive turned venture capitalist made early …
Agents of Impact | November 12, 2021
Tatenda Furusa, ImaliPay
ImpactAlpha, November 12 – A tragedy in Nairobi spurred Tatenda Furusa to follow his calling. The serial entrepreneur from Zimbabwe was working for …
Agents of Impact | November 8, 2021
Friends of ImpactAlpha, we appreciate you
You are an Agent of Impact. And a friend of ImpactAlpha. You follow us each day because we follow the money, the talent …
Brianna Fruean, Elizabeth Wathuti, Vanessa Nakate, and Vinisha Umashankar
Impact Investing | November 5, 2021
Agents of Impact: Young climate leaders
“As we sit comfortably here in this conference center in Glasgow, over two million of my fellow Kenyans are facing climate-related starvation,” 26-year-old …
Konda Mason, Jubilee Justice
Agents of Impact | October 29, 2021
Konda Mason, Jubilee Justice: Putting life at the center of regenerative agriculture
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – Konda Mason’s move from managing jazz musicians to financing regenerative farmers “felt pretty seamless to me,” Mason said at the …
Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator and Earthshot Ventures
Agents of Impact | October 22, 2021
Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator and Earthshot Ventures
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 22 – Dawn Lippert is closing capital gaps at both ends of climate tech funding. For more than a decade with Elemental …
Agents of Impact | October 15, 2021
Aunnie Patton Power, impact advisor and author
ImpactAlpha, October 15 – Being an investment banker in Chicago as a recent graduate wasn’t working for Aunnie Patton Power. “I was given …
Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi (photo: Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach)
Agents of Impact | October 8, 2021
Climate scientists
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 8 – Climate scientists are having a moment, decades overdue. Private investment funds are seeking out climate soothsayers to inform decision-making. Prescient …
Agents of Impact | October 1, 2021
Oraan’s Halima Iqbal and Farwah Tapal: Digitizing women’s savings circles in Pakistan
ImpactAlpha, October 1 – Halima Iqbal didn’t plan to start her own fintech company when she returned to Pakistan in 2018, after years …
Cathy Clark, Duke's Fuqua School of Business
Agents of Impact | September 24, 2021
Cathy Clark, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 24 – Before she herself began teaching 20 years ago, Cathy Clark helped her father run a summer program in Philadelphia that …
Agents of Impact | September 17, 2021
Hilda Moraa, Pezesha
ImpactAlpha, September 17 – Hilda Moraa was ahead of the trend of enterprise technology providers popping up all over Africa and other emerging …
Bright center star cluster | Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Agents of Impact | September 10, 2021
Universal Owners
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 10 – When you own everything, you don’t want everything to go to hell. That’s the simple concept behind the emerging doctrine …
Clean Energy | September 3, 2021
Jessica Brooks, Sunwealth
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 3 – On neighborhood strolls, Jessica Brooks sees schools, churches, apartment buildings – and unused rooftops. Such “infill” spaces represent a …
Sakena Yacoobi, Afghan Institute of Learning
Agents of Impact | August 27, 2021
Sakena Yacoobi, Afghan Institute of Learning
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – The Taliban is in power in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Not going away are the education centers, health clinics …