Month: August 2017

Impact Investing & ESG

Socially-Responsible Investing: Earn Better Returns from Good Companies

Sustainable investing is an opportunity to make money and make a difference in the world. Many people still feel like they have to choose between their money and their values. They still think about the way sustainable investing used to be, and they could be missing out on some terrific new opportunities in this space. New environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings for mutual funds give investors far more funds to choose from.

The State of Blended Finance

This working paper has been jointly produced by the Blended Finance Breakthrough Taskforce (BFBT) convened by the Business & Sustainable Development Commission, and Convergence. The State of Blended Finance aims to expand the evidence-base around the potential of blended finance to help close the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) funding gap by summarizing blended finance deal trends and identifying ongoing blended finance-related efforts of key actors in the space. This report will inform the recommendations the BFBT intends to deliver to unlock systemic barriers in the blended finance ecosystem that are currently preventing the flow of mainstream capital into blended finance transactions at scale.

Which of the 17 U.N. Global Goals do Impact Investors Prefer

Goals as a guide to impact and opportunity. Yet little is known about which of the goals are getting the most attention. A new report from InvestorFlow, the fast-growing impact investor network, sheds some light on the question. The report, “Who, What, Where, and How: The First 205 Investors,” provides a snapshot of InvestorFlow members (which now number 212) and includes an analysis of their preferences among the U.N. goals.

United States & Europe

U.S. Employment Jumps by 209,000 Jobs in July, More than Expected

A closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than anticipated in the month of July. The report said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 209,000 jobs in July after spiking by an upwardly revised 231,000 jobs in June.

Developing Economies

Tanzania: U.S., Tanzania Sign U.S.$225 Million Grant

The governments of United States and Tanzania on Friday signed a grant agreement of $225 million for implementation of various projects in education, health, agriculture and good governance. The agreement comes just a day after the US announced its plan to extend funding support in the next year for implementing various development projects in the country.

Gates Foundation to Spend over $300 Million in Tanzania in 2017

Bill Gates has told Reuters his foundation plans to spend more than $300 million in Tanzania this year on public health and poverty reduction programs. In an interview, the billionaire said aid was now being spent “in a smarter way” in some parts of the world.

Breaking the Code: How Women in Nigeria are Changing the Face of Tech

The Nigerian tech scene is booming. Last year, Lagos-based startup Andela received $24m (£18.5m) in funding from Mark Zuckerberg. In 2015, financial technology startup Paystack – one of the first Nigerian tech companies to be accepted into renowned California-based startup accelerator Y Combinator – secured approximately $1.3m in seed investment from international investors.

The Long Game: How Developing Countries can get Microfinance Right

Microfinance is often cited as an essential tool in helping women in particular rise from poverty. The theory goes that when you empower women to grow their businesses, they’re able to secure their families’ finances and create pathways toward education and improved quality of life for their children.

How to Decarbonize Indonesia and Achieve Low-Carbon Prosperity

Indonesia stands at a crossroads. It is the fourth-largest country in the world, with a population approaching that of the United States and a per-capita GDP nearly as large as China’s.  Like many countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is developing rapidly.  The manner in which Indonesia chooses to develop will have consequences for hundreds of millions of Indonesians as well as the developing countries of Southeast Asia and Africa that look to Indonesia as a model.

Impact Investing & ESG

What Millennial Investors Want: Convenience, Control and a Conscience

With their habit of viewing life through a smartphone, millennials have already disrupted industries like retail, the media and transportation. Now they’re driving shifts in investment markets with a wave of new technologies and products that cater to their demands. This next generation of investors wants sophisticated platforms that are powerful and convenient — and make the world a better place.

Millennials Drive Growth in Sustainable Investing

More investors are interested in sustainable investing and adopting its principles as part of their strategy, but Millennials are leading the charge, according to the Institute for Sustainable Investing’s 2017 “Sustainable Signals” report. As with the previous report in 2015, this latest survey of 1,000 total active individual investors tracked both how investors perceive sustainable investing and whether they are acting on that interest.

Lean Data: The “How” of Measuring Impact at Lower Cost for Higher Value

According to an annual survey of impact investors, unsophisticated measurement practice is one of the five biggest constraints to growing the impact investing market. With so many frameworks out there, why aren’t we making more progress?

Smallholder Farmers are Investable

Inclusive agriculture is defined as agricultural markets and value chains that are inclusive of the world’s half-billion smallholder farmers. Such models link these farmers with larger economic actors, ultimately improving agricultural productivity, expanding markets and trade, and increasing the economic resilience of vulnerable rural communities. A recent review by the Initiative for Smallholder Finance (ISF) of investments in smallholder agriculture shows a maturing market with clear investment opportunities at different stages of the agricultural value chain and varying stages of financing.

The $500 Million Blue Haven Initiative, Unplugged (Podcast)

The Blue Haven Initiative was one of the earliest family offices to commit itself to 100% mission-aligned investing. At more than $500 million, it’s one of the biggest to make that commitment. And it’s one of the first to share its challenges publicly.

Is Socially Responsible Value Investing the Future?

We can peer into the future value investing landscape by examining the performance returns in funds like Generation Investment Management and understanding the demand for socially responsible investments (SRI) from investors. Generation has delivered long term returns to support its thesis that value investing with a sustainability overlay can match traditional value investing performance returns. And the recent launch by leading robo-advisor, Betterment, of SRI portfolios may be a sign of increasing investor demand for investments that have a social-good overlay.

ESG

In ESG We Trust – The Risk and Rewards of ESG Investing

According to the Bank of America Corporation, ESG investing has grown by more than 97 percent globally in the past 20 years. In a dollar value, the number has gone from tens of billions to hundreds of trillions, and the number of investment funds has increased from 10s to 1000s.

Gender and ESG – “More Women” Means “More Money”

In this interview, Niklas Ekvall of AP4 and Richard Gröttheim of AP Fonden 7 discuss how gender diversity can positively affect ESG integration and performance.

United States & Europe

US Economic Expansion to Last Another Two Years or More: Reuters Poll

The U.S. economic expansion will last at least another two years, according to a majority of economists polled by Reuters who also forecast growth will not accelerate the way the Trump administration has predicted. The recovery from the devastating 2007-2009 financial crisis has been unusually lengthy. The latest growth stretch has already lasted 96 months, and if the poll predictions come true it would mark the longest economic expansion in more than 150 years.

Developing Economies

$515 Billion in Foreign Investment Expected for Developing Asia in 2017

Developing Asia is expected to witness a 15 percent increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2017, following a dramatic 22 percent drop in such inflows in 2016, according to the World Investment Report 2017, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Impact Investing & ESG

Toniic Podcasts with Impact Investors

There are exploitative elements of capitalism, as well as innovative and regenerative elements. In this podcast, Thomas Van Dyck of the SRI Wealth Management Group details how he taps into the latter as he navigates the often grey areas of impact evaluation and engages with clients, shareholders, and other stakeholders in aligning their values with their investment decisions.

The Millennial Marketplace and the Propagation of the Triple Bottom Line

Backed by an impressive $2.45 trillion in spending power, millennials now represent the world’s most important consumer category. Companies are paying attention, and they’ve gathered an impressive amount of data on millennial buying behavior. They’re acutely aware that the majority of millennial consumers — roughly 70% — will spend more on brands that support a cause they care about.

Culture of Transparency: Putting Impact Investing on the Map

The impact investing field has grown leaps and bounds since the Global Impact Investment Network first started tracking the growth of the field in 2010. Networks like Toniic and The ImPact have brought together a range of interested investors who want to learn more about allocating for impact. Even dedicated impact funds are attracting LPs with diverse motivations. To truly scale impact investing, we need to continue to engage in discourse around the challenges and solutions we are encountering in our everyday work.

OpenInvest Launches First Impact Investing Category to End Human Trafficking

OpenInvest, an impact investing platform empowering individuals to drive social change with their dollars, today announced the launch of the first impact investing category that works to end forced labor and human trafficking. Using data and analysis provided by JUST Capital, a nonprofit organization that measures companies against the priorities of the American people, 20 publicly traded companies were identified that have demonstrated the highest commitments to fighting forced labor in their supply chains, among other human rights abuses.

J.P. Morgan will Facilitate $200 Billion in Clean-Energy Financing by 2025

The bank is making what it calls “the largest commitment by a global financial institution” to facilitating clean energy financing. That bank did about $15 billion in such deals in 2015, including green bonds, tax-equity financings, project financing and even IPOs; the new pledge would boost that to about $22 billion a year.

ESG: the New ABCs of Portfolio Management?

Environment, social, and governance (ESG) factors provide an analysis framework for deep-dives into three pillars: Environmental, Social and Governance. These factors may have a material impact on the financial performance of the company. Unlike Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), ESG does not necessarily involve the exclusion of some sectors, such as weapons, tobacco, gambling, alcohol and animal testing. Instead, it offers a framework to analyse an investment opportunity from a different forward-facing perspective.

United States & Europe

US Economy Creates 209,000 Jobs in July

The unemployment rate edged lower to 4.3%, matching May’s figure which was the lowest since 2001. Employment in food services and drinking places rose 53,000 – that sector has now added 313,000 jobs since July 2016. Employment in health care and professional and business services also saw strong growth.

Developing Economies

Zambia’s Rural Homes to be Equipped with Pay-To-Own Solar Home Systems Expected to Help Eliminate Use of Candles

Energy and financial services firm Fenix International is working to deploy pay-to-own solar home systems in Zambia leveraging telecommunications giant MTN’s mobile money platform. In partnership with the Swedish Embassy in Zambia, which committed nearly $3-million to the project up to 2020, Fenix is taking its first step in expanding its flagship product, ReadyPay Power, across Africa, after successful deployment in Uganda.

Uganda: Tanzania, Uganda Sign Rural Electricity Deal

Tanzania and Uganda have signed yet another Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the supply of electricity to villages along the Uganda-Tanzania border. The signing ceremony which was held in Bukoba, Kagera Region at the weekend, comes just four days before President John Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, lay a foundation stone for the construction of the East African crude oil pipeline from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga Port in Tanzania.

26-Year-Old Founder Wants to Change Payments in Africa

26-year-old Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji wants Silicon Valley to fund a future where Africa is included. Aboyeji is the cofounder of Flutterwave, a payments API that makes it easier for banks and businesses to process payments across Africa. The service allows consumers to pay for things in their local currency; Flutterwave takes care of integrating banks and payment-service providers into its platform so businesses don’t have to take on the expense and burden.

PERU: Economy to Grow More than 4% in 2018 – Kuczynski

The Peruvian economy will grow at a rate of more than 4% next year, returning to the path economic dynamism, despite the natural disasters caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon and corporate corruption investigations, said the South American country’s president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in a speech.

UN Latin America Commission Forecasts Low but Positive Growth for Region in 2017

The Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2017 foresees that, after two years of contraction, nearly all countries in the region will experience, on average, 1.1 per cent positive growth rates in 2017 – except for Venezuela, whose gross domestic product (GDP) is seen falling -7.2 per cent; and Saint Lucia and Suriname, which is forecast to contract -0.2 per cent.

Emerging Markets AUM from 0.4T to $11.2T in 25 Years

The scale of the growth in emerging markets over the past quarter-century has been outstanding. During this period there has been close to 30 fold increase in US dollar emerging market equity capitalization from $0.4 trillion in January 1992 to around $11.9 trillion today, according to research from Credit Suisse.