Greetings Agents of Impact!

In today’s Brief:

• On today’s Call, Agents of Impact chart strategies for the era ahead
• Affordable workforce housing in Denver
• Debt financing for a hospital in Namibia
• Capital deployment models on display at COP29

Today’s Call: New Narratives

Economic populism, disruptive innovation and other impact investing strategies for the era ahead. When in doubt, reach out. That’s what ImpactAlpha did after this month’s US presidential election scrambled our storylines and assumptions. On today’s Call, Include Ventures’ Taj Ahmad Eldridge, Smitha Das of World Education Services, and Candide Group’s Morgan Simon will be among more than a dozen Agents of Impact sharing crisp takeaways and practical guidance for the era ahead. And if you want to share your own 90-second call to action, let us know and we’ll queue you up. RSVP for today’s Call at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. 

• Economic mobility. With the many opportunities for progress at the state level, Wilson Lester of Partners in Equity will lay out “the North Carolina model” for economic mobility. Impact investing pioneer Antony Bugg-Levine will frame an “investing in America” agenda to address widespread economic discontent. “Our wealth inequality solutions are populist,” adds Jon Shell of Social Capital Partners. “Maybe it’s time to take the gloves off, and to start building our own economic populist narrative.” Meanwhile, it is “imperative that we do not dehumanize or vilify the people who voted for Trump out of economic desperation or the fear of it,” says Adasina’s Rachel Robasciotti. “They are our future allies, and we must ultimately work with them to build a more equitable future for all of us, together.”
  
• Disruptive innovation. The 22 Fund’s Tracy Gray is helping “create clean, quality jobs of the future in the US.” Change Agent’s Aram Fischer is giving “AI tools a character that mimics a movement organizer.” Author Jess Rimington will introduce a narrative-change campaign, already underway, that aims to expand our economic imagination. “Our country – and the rest of the world – is in for a painful stretch of destruction,” writes Robisciotti. “During demolition, it will be important to remember that we are builders. We must continue to dream, plan and work for the just, equitable and inclusive future we have always wanted, so that when the tide turns we are poised to move swiftly and effectively.”
  
• Continuing conversation. Coalitions and convenings are more important than ever. On Tuesday, Kellogg Foundation’s Cynthia Muller, Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance, Urban Institute’s Brett Theodos and Dafina Williams of Opportunity Finance Network will join Mission Investors Exchange’s discussion of the new policy landscape for mission-aligned investing. Also on Tuesday, Impax Asset Management’s Julie Gorte, Trillium’s Matt Patsky, Community Capital Management’s David Sand and others will join Equities.com’s discussion of investment strategies under a Trump administration. On Friday, Maria Lettini will lead US SIF’s post-election media briefing.
  
• Keep reading, “Economic populism, disruptive innovation and other impact investing strategies for the era ahead,” by David Bank on ImpactAlpha. And join The Call, today at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP.

Dealflow: Impact-Linked Finance

Blue Earth issues $11 million sustainability-linked loan to Namibian hospital. A debt investment for healthcare access in Southern Africa exposes the impact considerations investors face in different geographies and sectors. Switzerland-based Blue Earth Capital provided $11 million in debt to Rhino Park, a private hospital in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. It’s the first African health investment by Blue Earth’s private credit team, Blue Earth’s Amy Wang told ImpactAlpha. “Our private credit strategies finance growing businesses that have an intentional footprint in impact, both social and environmental,” she said. The capital will help the hospital introduce MRI imaging and mammography, along with solar panels to help the hospital shift to greener energy. Blue Earth’s loan includes embedded incentives for increasing preventative care and boosting clean energy use by at least 10%.

• Environmental impact. Blue Earth’s private credit strategy seeks market-rate returns. In Africa, “it’s been challenging finding the right relative-value opportunities that are able to deliver outsized impact with a financial return,” explained Wang. The potential environmental impact of Rhino Park’s green energy transition helped Blue Earth make the case. Namibia’s grid relies on electricity imports from South Africa, a heavily coal-dependent country.
  
• And social. The transaction’s social impact angle is more complicated: The private hospital largely serves middle and high-income patients with access to health insurance and quality care. Financing preventative services in a public hospital could have a more direct impact on Namibia’s high maternal mortality rate. “We had to look at where our tool is best utilized,” said Wang. “In this case, [that was] looking at leadership in setting industry standards, training capabilities and best practices for the healthcare ecosystem.” Among the impacts Blue Earth is tracking in addition to those linked to its loan: how many nurses Rhino Park trains that go to work in the public health system.
  
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Turner Impact Capital’s latest impact fund invests in workforce housing in Denver. Turner Impact Capital is diving into Denver. The impact-focused real estate investor has acquired two multifamily residential properties in Aurora, part of the Denver metropolitan area, via its third Multifamily Impact Fund. Turner launched the fund in October with a $750 million fundraising target. Its mission is to address the affordability crisis for workforce housing in urban areas in the US “amid continuing hardship for working families,” the firm’s Bobby Turner said. The strategy involves acquiring and preserving residential properties for low- and moderate-income families that earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but struggle to find affordable housing options (see, “Building institutional-grade strategies to create and preserve affordable housing (podcast)”). 

• Mismatch. Turner Impact aims to address “large supply and demand mismatches of core community infrastructure,” such as workforce housing, public schools and community healthcare facilities, “and a lack of institutional capital.” In Denver, the median household income increased by around 40% between 2013 and 2022, while house prices surged 120%. Turner’s earlier multifamily funds have invested $650 million in preserving workforce housing in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas and other markets.
  
• Housing preservation. Rent restrictions on some 200,000 units of affordable housing are set to expire next year alone, growing to one million units annually by 2032. Much of the public discussion on addressing the affordable housing gap has focused on the creation of new affordable housing. Last month’s Agents of Impact Call identified strategies for preservation of affordable housing, both rental and owner-occupied. Roc USA, for example, helps mobile home owners form cooperatives to buy the land beneath their homes.
  
• More.

Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

• Cygnum Capital’s Africa Go Green Fund, which finances green infrastructure upgrades, secured a $16 million commitment from British International Investment, bringing its total raised to $166 million. (Africa Private Equity News)

• Australia’s Earthodic clinched $4 million in seed funding from FTW Ventures, Closed Loop Ventures, Circulate Capital and other investors to make a water-resistant and recyclable coating for paper packaging. (Closed Loop)
  
• Ocean 14 Capital made an investment in Greece’s aquaManager for software that monitors sustainable aquaculture operations. (Ocean 14)

Signals: COP Watch

When it comes to moving capital to climate-vulnerable nations, impact investors have the models. How much funding do wealthy countries owe to climate-vulnerable nations? And how does it get to them? The first week of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, closed with stubborn rifts and discouragingly little progress on the summit’s major challenges. Impact investors don’t have a direct seat at the negotiating table. But Agents of Impact are working back channels to elevate private investors’ role in ushering capital where it’s most needed. “We don’t have time to wait for these larger global commitments to crystallize and for clarity on what needs to be done for the ‘real’ funding to materialize,” Acumen’s Ayesha Khan tells ImpactAlpha. “We have to act now.” 

• Setting the stage. In the Pakistan “pavilion,” Acumen announced a commitment to deploy $300 million in adaptation finance for smallholder farmers by 2029, including $90 million for Pakistan’s farmers. Gawa Capital has been on the COP scene showcasing its $300 million adaptation fund for rural communities in Latin America. Lightsmith Group is developing a “virtual green bank” to offer debt, equity and technical assistance to companies building adaptation solutions (see, “Financing climate adaptation and resilience“). “It feels incremental, but there’s movement,” says Khan. “I think we’re setting the stage for more decisive movement on a global level at the next COP in Brazil.”
  
• Private partners. The big issue on the negotiating table in Baku is over the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, or NCQG, which would replace wealthy countries’ $100 billion annual climate finance commitment to lower-income countries established under the Paris Agreement. More than $1 trillion is needed annually, according to a new estimate from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance. The role of private finance is a major sticking point: Wealthy countries want much of the funding to come from the private sector; recipient countries want the lion’s share in the form of grants. “There’s a gradual openness to integrating private voices into the negotiations,” says Sabrina Nagel of the Atlantic Council, a private sector advocate in the NCQG negotiations.
  
• Adaptation finance. Institutional investors and large asset managers like Temasek, BlackRock and HSBC are visible in Baku. But many of the funnels for private adaptation finance are being developed and led by impact investors like Acumen, Gawa and Lightsmith. Their facilities are blending finance to move hundreds of millions of dollars – relatively large sums given that less than $65 billion has been mobilized for climate adaptation in recent years. “Impact investors need to be at the table defining the rules of climate capital,” says Gawa’s Luca Torre. “We’re the last mile. We’re who go to the vulnerable communities.”
  
• Keep reading, “When it comes to moving capital to climate-vulnerable nations, impact investors have the models,” by Jessica Pothering on ImpactAlpha. Catch up on all of ImpactAlpha’s COP coverage.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Majority Action’s Whitney Shepard and Bryant Sewell are named co-executive directors of the shareholder advocacy group. Eli Kasargod-Staub is stepping down after seven years at the helm… . Marcus Martin, previously with US Bank, joins Homium as chief impact officer (see, “With shared-appreciation notes, Homium aims to help home buyers overcome the down-payment hurdle”).

Vistria Group taps Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor and founding partner of Bain Capital Double Impact, as a senior partner. The firm is also bringing on Pritpal Aujla, previously with Roark Capital Group, as chief administrative officer… Regeneration.VC welcomes Ana Silva, previously with JP Morgan, as venture partner… Kensington Corridor Trust recruits Dymir Akins, previously with Watchtower Property Co., as operations and property manager.  

ImpactAssets hires Amy Lucas, previously with Credit Suisse, as chief of staff; April Parks, previously with Northern Trust, as operations director; Dennis Hill, previously with SEI Investments, as investment reporting analyst; Kimberly Sykes, previously with BPM, as a payroll and benefits specialist; and Tiffany Champion, previously with BNY Mellon, as investment operations senior associate. 

Shift Capital is looking for a development and investments director in Philadelphia… Enterprise Community Loan Fund seeks a senior loan officer, data program officer, credit and compliance director, and a green lending vice president in Washington, DC… Chicago Community Trust has an opening for an impact investments director.

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– Nov. 18, 2024