Agents of Impact
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
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 …
Charli Cooksey, WEPOWER | Photo by Lindy Drew of Humans of St. Louis.
Agents of Impact | August 13, 2021
Charli Cooksey, WEPOWER
ImpactAlpha, August 13 — Charli Cooksey has lived most of her nearly 35 years on the same block in North St. Louis. After …
Elizabeth McCluskey, CMFG Ventures
Agents of Impact | July 30, 2021
Elizabeth McCluskey, CMFG Ventures
ImpactAlpha, July 30 – This is what an impact investing career path looks like. McCluskey was working at UBS, first in investment banking and …
Heather Fleming, Change Labs
Agents of Impact | July 23, 2021
Heather Fleming, Change Labs
ImpactAlpha, July 23 – Heather Fleming started an industrial design firm to do thoughtful, community-centered design. Several years ago, she brought her skills …
Nasir Qadree, Zeal Capital Partners
Agents of Impact | July 16, 2021
Nasir Qadree, Zeal Capital Partners
ImpactAlpha, July 16 – As a first-time manager of an impact-oriented venture fund – and a Black man – Qadree defied the odds when …
Nikole Hannah-Jones, Howard University
Agents of Impact | July 9, 2021
Nikole Hannah-Jones, Howard University
ImpactAlpha, July 9 – Good journalism can make people feel uncomfortable. Well-told stories prompt readers and listeners to challenge assumptions, and can force societies …
Leo Strine
Agents of Impact | July 2, 2021
Leo Strine on worker power and ‘fair and sustainable capitalism’
Leo Strine was effectively the chief justice of U.S. corporations. As the top judge on the Delaware Supreme Court and, before that, chancellor …
top left to right: Gloria Majiga-Kamoto (Malawi), Thai Van Nguyen (Vietnam), Maida Bilal (Bosnia and Herzegovina); bottom left to right: Kimiko Hirata (Japan), Sharon Lavigne (U.S.), Liz Chicaje Churay (Peru) | Image credit: Goldman Environmental Foundation
Agents of Impact | June 25, 2021
Green Nobel winners
ImpactAlpha, June 25 – Environmental activism is social activism. Gloria Majiga-Kamoto became the face of the crusade to ban single-use plastics in Malawi. Why? …
Photo credit: Opportunity Finance Network
Agents of Impact | June 18, 2021
Lisa Mensah, Opportunity Finance Network
The rising star of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, was on display in Lisa Mensah’s appearance alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and …
Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson
Agents of Impact | June 11, 2021
Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson
ImpactAlpha, June 11 – Early leaders face a choice as movements grow: Fade away or adapt their game. In the decade since Antony Bugg-Levine …