As impact investors, we are interested in better measuring the impact of initiatives in underserved markets. Below are articles highlighting how people are creating social impact globally and how to measure and scale impact efficiently. Strong Communities Build Global Impact by Nekesa Were on iHub Global Voices and iHub have been bringing people together to form communities dedicated to social impact. Today, 1200 contributors from 167 countries write for Global Voices, coming together to write … read more
Impact Investing in Alternative Energy Enterprises
With our vested interest in alternative energy and emerging markets, we are always excited to see startups in and out of the portfolio recognized for their efforts, whether that’s through finding an investor match of simply receiving credit on well-respected publications. Below are some of the exciting developments in the alternative energy startup space over the past few weeks.
Ghana-Based Renewable Energy Startup Acquired in an Estimated 7-Figure Deal by Shea Gunther on Mother Nature … read more
Impact Investing
At ID, we invest in for-profit social enterprises because we believe in their potential to create impact at scale. However, there are some misconceptions and barriers have prevented social ventures from receiving capital. In this week’s reading we hope to provide a better understanding of impact investing and the work that investors, NGOs, and policy makers are doing to remove the barriers.
Impact Investing Goes Mainstream in Ontario, Canada on Triple Pundit
Today the worlds … read more
Dynamic Development in India
Last week the industry’s attention turned to India as Sankalp Forum brought together the biggest players in Indian social enterprise. Continue reading for news on India’s development and vibrant energy technology scene.
“5 Keys To Sustainable Development in Indian Cities” by Holger Dalkmann and Ashwin Prabhu
Impact investors and social entrepreneurs must consider the larger trends of population growth and urbanization in their approach to create impact. India is a good example: The … read more
Technology and Business for Good
This week, our thoughts are with the victims of the Boston Marathon Explosions. As with all tragedies, we must soldier on with daily life. Here’s news from the week that serve as a reminder of the good things that are happening in the world as a result of technology and business.
“Crowdsourcing Solar is a Bright and Powerful Idea” by RP Siegel on Triple Pundit
Financing continues to be the biggest barrier to … read more
Invested Development Invests in SolarNow to Provide Affordable Solar Home Systems in Uganda
Invested Development Invests in SolarNow to Provide Affordable Solar Home Systems in Uganda
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2013
Boston, MA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, & Kampala, Uganda – Invested Development, an emerging markets-focused social impact investment company, has invested in SolarNow, a Dutch social enterprise operating in Uganda. SolarNow combines a franchise model with an end-user credit facility to provide affordable solar home systems (SHSs) in Uganda. There are 4 million off-grid households in Uganda, … read more
Impact investing
This weekly review covers the ever-growing and nascent impact investing sector.
“Impact Investing for the New Economy: People” by Atlee McFellin on Triple Pundit
Impact investing is different from the green movement of years past. The new mindset of investing for impact emphasizes a dual focus on sustainability and well being for both the environment and people. Emerging investment and lending models, such as our own Impact Factoring Fund, are more frequently … read more
Weekly Review December 8-14: Trends in 2013
With December upon us, everyone is looking ahead to 2013. We, at Invested Development, are doing the same across our sector focuses and looking at trends for the upcoming year. Here are this week’s articles that reflect on trends and what’s next in alternative energy and mobile technology.
“Which Tech Trends Will Be Making Waves in 2013” on IT News Africa
Tablets, smartphones, and 4G and LTE data speeds made a big splash … read more
Weekly Review October 20-26: What’s Happening in Impact Investing?
The industry is still buzzing after the fifth annual Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) Conference in San Francisco. In addition, there was big news this week on a key impact investment and updates from the unexpected players that have entered the market.… read more
The IFF Applied to Carbon Credits
By now, many of our readers are familiar with the Impact Factoring Fund (IFF). When we first introduced it, we knew it would solve a common problem for many startups in emerging markets. Since then, we have discovered that there is a range of applications for the IFF across a variety of sectors, including tablet sales, pay-as-you-go energy sales, and even carbon credits. The common thread is the working capital constraint that businesses face when … read more
Weekly Review September 8-14
The impact investing industry is preparing new programs, insights, and, most importantly, entrepreneurs to live up to the big predictions for 2013, which has already been claimed as “the year of impact investing.”… read more
Weekly Review July 14-20
Check out this week’s headlines on impact investing.… read more
Weekly Review June 9-15
Every week, we read dozens of articles on our favorite industry trends and relate to our investment thesis. We pick the most popular trend from the week and share the top articles along with our thoughts.
This week, we’re featuring news on financial innovation and impact investing.… read more
Nairobi Calling
Editor’s Note: This post is Alex Bashian’s reflection on Nairobi’s “calling” after his recent visit to East Africa.… read more
Weekly Review December 25-31
It’s the last week of the year, and we are surrounded by reflections on 2011 and resolutions for 2012. Here at Invested Development we have both. Our main ambitions for 2012 are to open our third office in India and test some innovative investment structures tailored especially for the techies in Nairobi. While we are excited about the prospects in India, Africa has made the biggest leaps and grabbed the headlines this year, notably from
… read more Impact Maximization – Incorporating the full costs of doing business
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Capitalism
The businesses our industry is supporting are often referred to as social enterprises, social ventures, social businesses or impact enterprises. They are, by and large, businesses that not only do-no-harm, but intend to do-good[1]. Nomenclature aside, it is an industry that requires the belief that capitalism is the most effective way we know to efficiently bring products and services to the masses.
Before you label me as a Reagan Republican
… read more