Impact investors in Latin America are moving away from one-size-fits-all models. Across the region, they’re testing alternative ownership structures, creating financing tools that reach the region’s vast informal economy, and backing community-led approaches to water. The goal: build capital models that fit local realities instead of importing Silicon Valley’s playbook.
That shift was on display in Medellín, where more than 600 investors and entrepreneurs convened for Latimpacto’s Impact Minds. The city’s own reinvention — from violence and inequality to innovation and community-led growth — set the backdrop for conversations about financial models built to last.
New ownership structures
Purpose LatAm, a Santiago-based nonprofit, has mapped 50 companies across the region experimenting with alternative ownership structures — all trying to solve the same puzzle: how to attract investment while keeping decision-making aligned with mission rather than pure profit.
“We’re conducting legal analysis, exploring their inspirations, measuring their social impact, and examining how they sustain meaningful change over the long term,” said Nelson Rodríguez Harry of Purpose LatAm.
These arrangements may look unconventional, but the intent is straightforward: prevent companies with social purpose from being sold off or flipped for short-term gain. The approach follows global precedents including Patagonia’s recent foundation transfer, Bosch and Novo Nordisk’s decades-old ownership separations. Latin American companies are adapting these models to their own tailored realities.
Recent cases show this isn’t just theoretical. In Chile, Banca Ética put its voting rights into a nonprofit foundation to anchor governance, even as it raised $13.6 million from 600 investors across 20 countries. In Brazil, Grupo Gaia used a philanthropic endowment fund to hold equity, a workaround that preserves mission without losing tax benefits.
In Argentina’s Patagonia region, Meliquina is developing the Antú 1 solar project with the Indigenous Mapuche Millaqueo community. The community earned equity by contributing land rights, environmental planning and permitting, and will share in the project’s long-term profits. “It wasn’t about being employees or beneficiaries, it was about being partners,” said Mapuche leader Stella Zapata. “That was something totally new.”
The tension is especially acute for younger companies raising capital. “The traditional venture capital legal framework does not serve effective impact management,” Rodríguez Harry said. “If financial incentives remain focused on short-term returns, then any impact-oriented framework will eventually be compromised. That is why we propose analyzing alternative ownership structures and financing structures aligned with this vision.”
Serving the informal sector
For decades, legacy investors have overlooked Latin America’s informal economies.
With seven out of ten Latin Americans working outside the formal economy, funders are finally acknowledging that “informality” represents a fundamental structural challenge rather than a minor inconvenience.
“In Latin America, 70% of people work within the informal economy,” states Juan Carlos Iturri of the Fundación IES. “If we only develop solutions targeting the top 10-15% of formally registered firms, we’re systematically missing the vast majority of the actual economy.”
This recognition is spurring investors to get creative in how they tap into this vast, underfunded opportunity.
Bolivia’s Fundación IES has pivoted away from funding formal enterprises to cooperative-style enterprises, exemplified by La Purita, where 308 dairy farmers became equity shareholders, paying for their ownership stakes with milk deliveries rather than cash investments.
“At Fundación IES, we’ve gone through several stages: a straight venture capital fund, a listed capital markets fund (what we’d now call catalytic capital), microfinance, and capacity-building programs.” Says IES’s Juan Carlos Iturri. “After 25 years, we realize we need to relearn what’s happening on the ground in order to design the next generation of support mechanisms.”
Mexico City-based impact debt fund Viwala is working with Latimpacto on a report that systematically maps the entire fisheries value chain—from individual fishers to processing facilities to restaurant chefs—identifying investment opportunities within this informal sector. The fund, which provides flexible lending to hundreds of medium-sized social enterprises across Latin America, is tailoring financing products to meet the specific needs of these previously overlooked players.
“This is how we bridge the gap,” says Viwala’s Karla Gallardo “by showing investors real, concrete opportunities that communities are ready to scale, and matching them with the right type of capital.”
The Anglo American Foundation is piloting innovative parametric insurance products for Honduran fishers at just $10 per year. “When measured wind speeds exceed predetermined thresholds, the insurance automatically triggers payouts,” explains Verónica Melzi from Anglo American.
This product is designed to unlock access to private credit for workers who have historically been considered completely unbankable by traditional financial institutions.
Water finance innovation
Water represents another emerging frontier for innovative financing approaches.
In Peru, Water.org partnered with the National Bank of Peru to structure a groundbreaking 100 million soles ($29 million) water and sanitation bond. “The bond issuance successfully raised 100 million soles and was oversubscribed by institutional investors including pension funds, insurers, and mutual funds,” reports Rocío Cavazos from Water.org.
The proceeds directly lowered borrowing costs for infrastructure developers, providing concrete evidence that water infrastructure can be effectively priced and marketed as a viable investment asset class.
In Colombia’s remote La Guajira region, financial institution Grupo Aval and energy company Promigas are backing a public-private partnership that integrates potable water, energy infrastructure, and food security for communities where 70% of rural residents lack access to clean water.
“The most crucial first step in any investment partnership with Indigenous communities is taking the necessary time to genuinely understand their specific vision of development,” said María Camila Muñoz, who leads the project. “Active listening and patient engagement are absolutely essential for success.”
This reflects a broader regional trend toward decentralized, community-led water utilities gaining recognition from regulators and investors as viable alternatives to state-run programs.”In Mexico, the government’s dream of bringing large-scale centralized water systems to every community is simply unrealistic,” said Laurence Hulin of Luxembourg-based Accelerating Impact, which supports emerging fund managers globally. “Decentralized solutions can bridge critical gaps more quickly and sustainably, with reduced maintenance burdens.
