Greetings, Agents of Impact! Welcome to the latest ImpactAlpha Open, our free weekly newsletter to keep you in the game – and ahead of the curve – in impact investing and sustainable finance. 

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In this week’s Open:

• Private debt in emerging markets
• Reclaiming West Baltimore’s rowhouses, Part II
• The revival of ‘left-behind’ people and places
• Indigenizing agricultural finance

Ok, let’s jump in. – Dennis Price

Must-reads on ImpactAlpha

• Private debt in emerging markets. Borrowers in emerging markets remain a surprisingly good credit risk, reports Jessica Pothering. “There’s a misconception about the perceived risk that’s not justified,” Tameo’s Ramkumar Narayanan tells her. Read more.
  
• Real revitalization in Baltimore. From the city’s “Black Butterfly” of abandoned row houses, Roodgally Senatus reports on (and photographs!) the work of the Waterbottle cooperative, which has developed ways to share the appreciation in property values with both workers and tenants. Check it out.
  
• Left behind communities are catching up. Communities marked by decades of lagging population and income growth just notched their “strongest three-year period of job creation and business growth since the turn of the 21st century,” according to the bipartisan policy incubator Economic Innovation Group, I reported. Learn more.
  
• Standing up to SCOTUS. Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance calls for impact investors to be vigilant in the face of the US Supreme Court’s dismantling of the so-called administrative state. “Let us ensure that these attacks playing out in the courts do not lead to harmful chilling effects across the public and private sectors,” she writes. Hear her out.
  
• Investing in women’s reproductive health. In a guest post, Milken Institute’s Ashley Campany rounds up investment models to safeguard women’s reproductive health, an effort made more urgent by a Supreme Court decision two years ago. See the models.
  
• Uncovering child-lens impact. Investments in cookstoves, clean energy and microfinance yield tangible benefits for children, write UNICEF USA’s Erin Egan and 60 Decibels’ Lindsay Smalling in a guest post. How do they know? 60 Decibels asked the families themselves. Hear how.
  
• Anti-LGBTQ+ is a systematic risk. Colorful Capital’s William Burckart files a dispatch from a White House meeting where LGBTQ+ venture capitalists and other investors pressed for greater representation in capital markets and for corporate boardrooms to mitigate the systemic risks of exclusion. Get the update.

Agents of Impact

🏃 On the move

• Luiz Amaral steps down as CEO of the Science Based Targets Initiative. The move comes after a controversial decision by Amaral to loosen carbon offsets guidelines and a call by his colleagues to resign.
  
• LeapFrog Investments names Frances Holliday and Pranav Kumar as partners.
  
• Movement on the Ground welcomes Helen Maynard-Hill, previously with Euclid Network, as funds and impact director.

The Week’s Podcast

🎧 This Week in Impact

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Can good economic news change the dreary narrative that has taken hold? Plus, the impact of TPG Rise Fund’s investment in AI-powered cameras that detect parking violations in bus-only zones.

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

Also on the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network:

• Lending to Native-led producers gives Akiptan an edge in regenerative agriculture. Indigenous lenders and investors are doing business in ways shaped by and tailored to Indigenous communities themselves. Akiptan, a Native community development financial institution, has loaned more than $27 million to businesses and producers in nearly 30 tribal communities. “Native agriculture is regenerative by nature,” says Akiptan’s Skya Ducheneaux on the latest Agents of Impact Podcast. Listen now.
  
• Rebundle’s sustainable braids. ImpactAlpha contributing editor Sherrell Dorsey spoke with Rebundle founder Ciara Imani May for the latest episode of Plugged In about the business of braiding Black women’s hair. Rebundle’s hair extensions are made from banana fiber and non-toxic dye, reducing both the health effects and the environmental impacts of conventional beauty products. Watch now.

The Week’s Deal Spotlight

The rise of Japanese corporate impact funds. Japanese corporations are rolling out corporate venture impact funds to comply with upcoming sustainability reporting requirements for their operations in Europe. Japanese automaker Suzuki, which has a subsidiary in Hungary, launched a corporate venture fund focused on social impact in India. The car maker has a significant corporate presence in India and recently announced plans to manufacture a new electric vehicle there. The focus of its Next Bharat Venture Fund will be investments in agriculture, mobility, supply chain solutions and financial inclusion, with an emphasis on boosting rural and informal sector incomes.

• Go with the dealflow. Get the full post and check out our roundup of ImpactAlpha’s deal reporting this week.

Get in the Game

💼 Step up

• Impact Capital Managers is seeking an impact measurement and management, and research analyst based in either the NYC metro area (3 days/week in office) or Washington, D.C. (fully remote).
  
• The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is hiring a pipeline and partnerships associate in Boston.
  
• Geneva Finance Research Institute is looking for an impact measurement research intern for a remote role.

Visit ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub for more hundreds of more impact investing jobs.

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• August 19-21: Black is Tech (Houston)
  
• September 9-11: Latimpacto (Oaxaca)
  
• October 7-9: AFSIC Investing in Africa (London)

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