Huge thanks to Kyle Zimmer and Jane Robinson from First Book for writing this great HuffingtonPost blog on our event in Oxford last week. They wrote about two big hurdles for impact investing: risk and access.
An excerpt from their blogpost:
Both the triumphs and the growing pains of “impact investing” were on display in Oxford, England last week. Impact investing goes beyond the passive tactic of limiting investments to, say, companies that are green or that don’t produce guns. Rather this practice combines traditional and cutting edge investment strategies to provide financial return through active support of enterprises taking aim at major social issues — like housing, workforce development, education of low income populations or clean water and the environment. Last week at Oxford University’s Said Business School, the Skoll Centre, CASE at Duke University and ICAP Partners gathered social entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders from around the world to advance the evolution of what is being touted as a new investment lens.
It is a tall order to find a proverbial win-win that on the one hand offers investors financial returns and at the same time channels working capital to social entrepreneurs launching breakthrough – though not yet self-sufficient – businesses to address social needs. But in recent years a framework of investors, fund managers, intermediaries, investment targets and ratings agents has begun to take shape to address this critical limiting factor for the social sector: a viable flow of capital.
However, at least two big challenges have surfaced.
To read more, click over to the Huffington Post!
