- Beats
- The Brief
June 27, 2022
The Brief
Featured: ImpactAlpha Original
Seven Calls: Agents of Impact on carbon pricing, political risk, climate adaptation, responsible fintech and more. ImpactAlpha's spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in public and crypto markets, shifting winds in venture capital, and a multi-front backlash to ESG. In seven Calls, entrepreneurs, investors and other practitioners shared examples and insights with thousands of ImpactAlphasubscribers and friends. Catch up on all of the insights:
Agents of Impact: Where to Meet
BlueMark launches its third annual Making the Mark report, “Spotlighting Leaders in Impact Management,” Wed., June 28, at 10:30am ET. Tideline presents "State of the Impact Investment Market: Trends, Tailwinds, Challenges," as part of its Compass Series, July 12 at 11am ET. Big Path Capital’s Impact Capitalism Summit convenes July 20-21 in Nantucket, Mass. The Global Steering Group on Impact Investing gathers for the second part of its virtual Impact Summit Series, “Boosting Capital Flows in Emerging Markets,” September 22. The GIIN Investor Forum convenes in The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 12-13. SOCAP returns Oct. 17-20 at a new venue, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. GenderSmart hosts its global summit, “Traction to Transformation,” Oct. 17-19 in London. Enterprise Community Partners holds its 40th anniversary conference Oct. 19-20 in Washington, D.C.
- The Call
photo: Pixabay
Originals | June 27, 2022
Seven Calls: Agents of Impact on carbon pricing, political risk, climate adaptation, responsible fintech and more
ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …
Call Recording | June 3, 2022
Call No. 43: How responsible fintech in Africa provides resilience in a downturn (video)
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
Impact Investing | May 13, 2022
Call No. 42: Business financing beyond venture capital to fuel the boom in entrepreneurship (video)
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
Inclusive Economy | April 22, 2022
Call No 41: How investors are catalyzing climate capital for adaptation and equity (video)
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
Frontier and Growth Markets | April 1, 2022
Call No. 40: How impact investors embrace political risk to keep progress flowing (video)
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …
Capitalism Reimagined | March 11, 2022
Call No. 39: Moving from ESG talk to action at major corporations (video)
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 …
Policy Corner | February 25, 2022
Call No. 38: Inside the generational opportunity to reshape rules of corporate disclosure
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 …
Call Recording | February 11, 2022
Call No. 37: Ramping up the supply of carbon reduction to meet the urgent demand (video)
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.” …
Looking Ahead to 2022 | December 17, 2021
The Reconstruction in 2022: Seizing the moment to build multiracial prosperity and democracy
‘Tis the season for our lookaheads to 2022 and, thanks to ImpactAlpha subscribers, we are able to make the roundups freely available. So …
Capitalism Reimagined | December 3, 2021
Call No. 35: Building a multi-movement engine to hold corporations accountable and reimagine capitalism (video)
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 3 – The New Capitalism Project has over the past two years dissected the failings of the current system and crafted a …
Frontier and Growth Markets | November 19, 2021
Call No. 34: How tech innovation is bridging gaps in small business financing in emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, November 19 – The boom in African fintech startups began before COVID-19. The economic shutdowns and financial dislocations of the pandemic supercharged …
Catalytic Capital | October 29, 2021
Call No. 33: Using catalytic capital to fill climate finance gaps from the bottom up
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – As the COP26 global climate summit kicks off this weekend, much of the focus will be on the massive …
- Podcasts
Gender Smart | June 21, 2022
Delivering higher returns and stronger impact with ‘The XX Edge’
At a breakfast meeting in Singapore a few years ago, Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber were speaking to asset owners and entrepreneurs about …
Podcasts | June 17, 2022
Emerging Fund Managers Gather in Dar es Salaam
Jessica Pothering joins Monique Aiken to share the work of equity and debt capital providers in emerging markets, whom she met with last …
Podcasts | June 10, 2022
Impact Investing and Coming Out
David Bank joins host Brian Walsh to discuss parallels between the LGBTQ+ community and the impact investing community. We also hear from Megan …
Podcasts | June 6, 2022
New leadership at Kapor Capital doubles down on diversity and impact (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, June 6 – Pro tip for entrepreneurs or fund managers getting ready to pitch Oakland-based Kapor Capital: Don’t leave diversity out of …
Podcasts | June 3, 2022
Briefing: Stephan Nicoleau on Davos and Moving Forward on Climate
FullCycle’s Stephan Nicoleau deconstructs the climate conversation at the recent Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum with podcast host Monique Aiken, and …
Photo credit: Alicia Powell.Podcasts | May 27, 2022
Live-ish from Davos: Taking on the world with BlocPower and friends
ImpactAlpha, May 26 — Donnell Baird arrived at Davos this week with his partners from Brooklyn and Ithaca, where BlocPower is greening thousands …
Podcasts | May 20, 2022
Briefing: Building the next-generation of diverse climate fund managers with Bahiyah Robinson
“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 …
Podcasts | May 12, 2022
The Politicization of ESG and Some Alternatives to VC
David Bank joins Monique Aiken to discuss the politics of ESG and the importance of flexible financing for startups and small businesses. Plus, …
Podcasts | May 6, 2022
Alternatives to VC, from Community Rounds to Neighborhood Economics
David Bank joins host Brian Walsh to preview next week’s Agents of Impact call (3:45). And Bank checks in with Kevin Jones from …
Climate Finance | May 3, 2022
Jonathan Rose on building green, affordable communities of opportunity (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, May 3 – The Pasatiempo apartments on the edge of Silicon Valley near downtown Fremont, Calif., are a mix of market-rate and …
Podcasts | April 29, 2022
Briefing: Investing trends in Africa
Host Monique Aiken is joined by Jessica Pothering to explore the, yes, social impact of private investment trends on the African continent. Plus, …
Podcasts | April 22, 2022
Briefing: Carl Icahn, Elon Musk, and activist investing in the age of ESG
Host Brian Walsh is joined by roundtable regulars Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank to decide which type of “activist investor” Carl Icahn is …
- Opinion
Impact Management | June 23, 2022
Overheard at GSG’s Global Impact Series
Regulators, CEOs, and investors the world over welcome enhanced disclosures. That was the message at the The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment’s …
BrusselsRefugee Lens Investing | June 21, 2022
Tracking corporate action to address the climate-driven refugee crisis
Every three seconds another person is forced out of the rhythms of normal life and into crossing a border to find safety. From …
The Reconstruction | June 17, 2022
The growth of diverse entrepreneurs is a movement, not a moment
Diversity, equity, and inclusion overall has drawn interest from impact investors in recent years, driven in part by the pandemic’s ravaging effect on …
Photo credit: Educe CooperativaSmallholder Agriculture | June 16, 2022
Investing to transform food systems in the face of a global crisis
The growing food crisis has become a global catastrophe. The combined impact of the invasion of Ukraine, climate-related disasters like droughts, and other …
Seeding Impact | June 14, 2022
Lessons for harnessing the power of catalytic capital from a growing community of practice
Editor’s note: This post is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Seeding Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Seeding Learning Labs. Key insights …
Seeding Impact | June 14, 2022
Catalytic Capital FAQ: How flexible capital can bridge financing gaps
Catalytic capital is a fast-growing subset of impact investing that addresses capital gaps left by mainstream capital. From reaching underserved populations and geographies, …
Agrifood Tech | June 13, 2022
What $8 billion in food-waste investments tells us about what’s next
The message received from private funding activity into food waste solutions over the last ten years is clear: Food waste is an established …
Policy Corner | June 8, 2022
Keeping communities at the center of equitable infrastructure by reimagining risk, power and accountability
Largely missing from conversations around the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal has been an acknowledgement of the impact of past infrastructure investment to …
Impact Voices | June 6, 2022
Africa Eats: Filling the gap in operational capital to grow Africa’s small businesses
Find great companies, add growth capital, and the result are bigger, stronger, more scalable companies. This analysis demonstrates what happens when the “missing …
U.S. CongressPolicy Corner | June 2, 2022
Rules and regulatory trends impact investors should be tracking
Public policy and regulatory action have helped accelerate and catalyze the flow of private capital for public good for decades. The historic regulatory …
Impact Voices | June 1, 2022
Reports from the U.K. and India to Japan and Ghana show strong growth in impact investing
Market sizing studies help institutional investors, fund managers, regulators and policymakers accurately assess opportunities and stay competitive. But since the last edition of …
Impact Voices | May 31, 2022
Three ways to reboot ESG for social value
ESG investing – short for Environment, Social and Governance – now accounts for about $15 trillion of assets under management in the USA, …
- Agents of Impact
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 …
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