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TriLinc’s Joan Trant Shared ESG Practices at ANDE SGB Orientation Training

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Joan Trant, Managing Partner at TriLinc Global, LLC, led a session during the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Orientation Training event which took place on June 13, 2017 in New York City. Joan is a member of TriLinc’s Executive Management team, serves on the company’s Investment Committee and Sustainability and Impact Committee, and is a thought leader, keynote speaker, and long-time practitioner in the impact investing industry. TriLinc Global is an impact fund sponsor whose mission is to demonstrate the role that the capital markets can play in helping solve some of the world’s pressing economic, social and environmental challenges, and it has developed a robust methodology for measuring the social, environmental, and financial performance of portfolio companies in the funds it sponsors.

ANDE’s annual Orientation provides an overview of and an introduction to investing in the small and growing business (SGB) sector to new hires in ANDE member organizations, as well as others joining the industry. TriLinc is committed to helping develop talent for the impact investing industry, and believes that collaboration with associations, academia, and peers is vital for developing talent in this rapidly developing sector. Joan’s session walked the group through TriLinc’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and impact evaluation process, coupled with a case study review. Specifically, Joan presented TriLinc’s approach in evaluating potential investments, beginning with its Initial Sustainability and Impact Review (ISIR) of prospective portfolio companies. Conducted simultaneously with financial analysis, the ISIR takes into account the country, industry, and company factors relating to the project under due diligence. In an ISIR, TriLinc identifies pros and cons for the project vis-à-vis the socioeconomic context of the country/region where the company is operating, and the risks and opportunities from an ESG stance. TriLinc identifies the organizations that act as watchdogs and standard setters for the industry being evaluated, and then assesses the company and its proposed business project to ensure that it meets TriLinc’s ESG as well as its financial criteria. In addition, portfolio companies in TriLinc sponsored funds must self-identify an impact metric, and TriLinc gathers baseline data and reports on the metric as well.

For the ANDE case study, session participants prepared their own analysis of ESG and impact data for a potential portfolio company, identifying the top social and environmental issues, positive and negative, that they believe the proposed project raises and/or addresses, alongside any additional information required to complete their ESG and Impact due diligence. Additionally, the participants determined what supporting materials/research they would want to review, permits/assessments they would request from the company, and any other inputs they would seek in order to obtain more clarity to fully assess the company’s ESG/impact policies, activities, opportunities, and risks. The session’s final exercise was to present findings and determine whether, based on the information provided, the participants would approve or decline financing.

ANDE was officially launched in March 2009. ANDE is a non-profit, member-driven global network of organizations that invest money and expertise to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. ANDE’s headquarters are in Washington D.C., and with additional full-time regional coordinators based in Brazil, Central America and Mexico, East Africa, India, and South Africa. ANDE members are located in over 150 countries around the world, with additional member-led chapters in West Africa and East and Southeast Asia.

TriLinc has been a member of ANDE since 2010 and has backed in the organization’s efforts to produce metrics which measure impact in social and environmental terms by participating in working groups, supporting research efforts, and helping disseminate findings (for example, visit our blog post, Measuring the “Impact” in Impact Investing, for commentary on ANDE’s “State of Measurement: Practice in the SGB Sector”).

Today’s session was a compelling example of how ANDE seeks to foster the growth and sustainability of SGBs across the globe – and how TriLinc and other members contribute to this effort.  As Danielle Riley from Roots and Wings noted, “The ANDE training was really educational. TriLinc’s session was especially helpful because it began with the big picture of socioeconomic and environmental challenges and investment opportunities, and then it brought the discussion to how we can address them through investments on the ground that target both returns and impact.”

To learn more about ANDE, visit their website here; to view their upcoming events, click here.

TriLinc Global Named Best for the World by B Lab

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TriLinc Global, an innovative impact investment fund sponsor and Certified B Corp, earned a place on the 2017 Best for the World: Long Term list by scoring in the top 10 percent in the “Governance” category on the B Impact Assessment.

 

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TriLinc Global LLC (TriLinc), a Certified B Corp, has received Best for the World: Long Term honors from B Lab, joining 186 other certified B Corporations from 79 industries and 13 countries. B Lab has commended businesses that earned a Governance score in the top 10 percent of more than 2,100 Certified B Corporations evaluated through the B Impact Assessment process. The list recognizes companies from 48 countries and includes honorees like the CAPROCK Group, Veris Wealth Partners, and Trillium Asset Management.

TriLinc is an innovative impact investing fund sponsor with a mission to link market-rate returns, positive impact, and scalable solutions. Through its sponsored funds, TriLinc provides growth capital to established small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) in developing economies where access to capital is significantly limited. Borrower companies must demonstrate the ability to pay market rates, pass TriLinc’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens, and commit to tracking and reporting on self-identified impact metrics.

“TriLinc is proud to be recognized by B Corp, as we are completely aligned with the B Lab mission,” said Gloria Nelund, Chairman & CEO of TriLinc. “TriLinc is a purpose-driven company that believes in the power of capitalism to solve social and environmental challenges.”

“Companies like TriLinc Global that build their business to be mission-driven for the long term exemplify what it means to use business as a force for good.”

“Companies like TriLinc Global that build their business to be mission-driven for the long term exemplify what it means to use business as a force for good,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab. “We are proud to recognize their achievement. Best for the World is the only list of businesses making the greatest positive impact that uses comprehensive, comparable, third-party-validated data about a company’s social and environmental performance.”

A total of 846 Certified B Corporations, including Patagonia, Business Development Bank of Canada, and Keene Advisors, Inc., were named 2017 Best for the World Honorees in various categories. The comprehensive assessment measures a company’s engagement with and impact on its workers, community, customers, and the environment. To certify as a B Corporation, companies like TriLinc must complete the full assessment and undergo independent verification by B Lab, including periodic onsite reviews.

“Although TriLinc is typically evaluated on its investment activity, B Corp certification goes a step further to assess the impact of our business on all stakeholders, validating the sustainability of our operations and how we have embedded environmental, social, and governance best practices into every aspect of our company’s policies and procedures,” said Melissa Tickle, Senior Impact & ESG Analyst. “Receiving Best for the World recognition demonstrates that we are supporting our mission of doing well by doing good, both at home and abroad, through the entirety of our operations.”

Honorees were announced on B the Change, B Lab’s digital Medium publication. The full list can be found here.

 

About TriLinc Global, LLC

TriLinc Global is a private impact investment fund sponsor that seeks to provide investors with access to institutional-class, market-rate-return impact investment funds. Through its sponsored funds, TriLinc has developed a systematic approach to the packaging, registration, and distribution of alternative investment products that pursue unique yield-oriented strategies that change the world for the better.

 

About B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization with the vision that one day all companies will compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world, and society will enjoy prosperity for all for the long term. B Lab drives this systemic change by: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing benefit corporation legislation to give business leaders the freedom to create value for society as well as shareholders; 3) helping businesses measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance with the free B Impact Assessment; and 4) driving capital to impact investments through use of its B Analytics and GIIRS Ratings platform. For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.

B the Change is a Medium publication, produced by B Lab in collaboration with the community of Certified B Corps and the movement of people using business as a force for good. B the Change exists to inform and inspire people, by broadening and deepening engagement with entrepreneurs, managers, employees, investors, and citizens through storytelling, in order to transform business and society. For more information, visit www.bthechange.com.

Contacts

TriLinc Global, LLC
Gloria Nelund, Chief Executive Officer
310-220-0871

or

B Lab
Callie Rojewski, Public Relations
610-293-0299 ext. 218

TriLinc Joins Forces with SOCAP in Good Capital Project Launch

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On June 19th New York City, the epicenter for capitalism, provided the setting for the launch of the Good Capital Project (GCP), a two-year impact investment initiative spearheaded by Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) to increase the flow of capital into purpose-driven investments. Over the past 10 years, SOCAP has built a global network of investors, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders across sectors, all of which are united by a common goal: addressing the world’s toughest challenges through market-based solutions. SOCAP has convened over 15,000 people at its events since 2008, and hosts events year-round to continue conversations about money and meaning.

TriLinc Global is equally committed to fostering capitalism for good. As an impact fund sponsor, our goal is to advance systemic change by pursuing market rate returns alongside positive socioeconomic and environmental impact in investment strategies that attract capital at scale. Our longtime support of SOCAP’s initiatives underscores our passion for strengthening the impact investment sector to achieve these goals.

The GCP aims to develop common tools, resources, and frameworks to be used across the industry, aligning capital markets with human needs. In an interview (full text can be found here) as a part of SOCAP’s “Why Good Capital Project?” series, TriLinc’s co-founder and CEO Gloria Nelund emphasized that collaboration across sectors is critical to transforming how people think about the industry. She noted that movements that seek to change behaviors over time must be collaborative, not competitive, and that it will “take a lot of people playing a lot of different roles in different arenas” to achieve substantial changes in the impact investment industry.

SOCAP has identified several friction points in the industry which have prevented impact investing from effectively attracting mainstream capital. GCP focuses on overcoming six grand challenges that hinder the development of a robust impact investing ecosystem: creating shared understanding, identifying investable solutions, enabling the entrepreneur, streamlining impact management and metrics, creating legal structures and policies, and developing efficient distribution and product design. The June 19th kickoff event convened the industry’s thought leaders, investors, investment advisors, practitioners, academia, and forward-thinking corporations to lay the foundation for actionable change to address these challenges.

The event’s main activity, through six concurrent breakout sessions, was to map the pathway and identify key actors and the actions required for solving the six grand challenges:

1) Creating shared understanding: designing a framework for the impact investing ecosystem and developing tools to improve knowledge sharing.

2) Investable solutions: addressing the current state of the impact market and identifying which sectors are ready for market rate returns, and which areas need subsidies to catalyze the market.

3) Enabling the entrepreneur: discovering how to improve the impact landscape to enable business owners to thrive and create social impact.

4) Impact management and metrics: exploring how to streamline existing tools and metrics and creating a unified approach to impact management and measurement.

5) Legal structure and policy: discussing existing regulations and policies are in place in the impact market, and identifying which could be added or improved to enable more participants to join the market.

6) Efficient distribution and product design: exploring how existing impact pioneers have achieved market rate risk and return profiles, and studying traditional asset managers to understand their methods for creating, launching, and delivering products to consumers.

TriLinc Managing Partner Joan Trant was one of several presenters who gave a briefing to provide context for the breakout session on efficient distribution and product design. After this brief orientation, Joan and her fellow presenters acted as peer discussants in smaller groups to facilitate the framing of key questions, the answers to which will address root issues in developing and distributing impact investment products at scale.

Over the next two years, the GCP will continue to engage with actors across the impact investing sector to develop the systems needed to resolve the challenges defined in the launch event. TriLinc is committed to continuing its involvement in this initiative; please see our upcoming blogs for more insights on Joan’s breakout session and the continued evolution of these efforts.

Symbiotics Partners with TriLinc Advisors Ahead of SOCAP17

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LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Symbiotics has partnered with TriLinc Advisors (“TriLinc”) as part of its impact investing strategy after an in-depth due diligence process evaluating both investment performance and impact measurement.

Symbiotics Partners with @TriLinc Advisors Ahead of #SOCAP17 | CC: @SymbioticsNews @SOCAPmarkets #IMPINV

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Impact Investing is defined as investing with the specific objective to achieve a competitive financial return as well as creating positive, measurable impact in communities across the globe.

TriLinc is an innovative impact investing fund manager with a mission to link market-rate returns, positive impact, and scalable solutions. It provides growth-stage loans and trade finance to established small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) in developing economies where access to affordable capital is significantly limited. Borrower companies must demonstrate the ability to pay market rates, pass TriLinc’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens, and commit to tracking and reporting on self-identified impact metrics. Since inception, TriLinc has invested over $718 million in private debt globally and seeks to demonstrate the power of the capital markets in helping to solve some of the world’s pressing socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

Symbiotics, incorporated in 2004 in Geneva, is an investment company specialized in emerging, sustainable, and inclusive finance. Symbiotics offers market research, investment advisory, and asset management services through its Swiss operations, and advisory services through its subsidiary in the UK.

“Symbiotics is very happy to partner with TriLinc, as an innovative impact investing manager based out of the United States, having built a model to reach the missing middle in emerging and frontier markets,” said Roland Dominicé, CEO of Symbiotics. “Our shared goals and vision create a natural alignment for our investors and target markets; we look forward to continue financing their operations and sharing on this experience at SOCAP this year.”

“TriLinc is looking forward to growing our partnership with Symbiotics,” said Gloria Nelund, Chairman and CEO of TriLinc. “Our firms share the vision of helping investors engage the capital markets to make investments that both meet their financial objectives and pursue positive socioeconomic and environmental impact, to change the world for the better.”

TriLinc and Symbiotics are co-hosting a private, invitation-only breakfast at SOCAP17, a gathering of leaders focused on fostering capitalism for good. For details, please contact Amy McCance at amccance@trilincglobal.com.

About TriLinc Global, LLC

TriLinc Global, LLC (“TLG”), founded in 2008, is a leading sponsor of global impact investment funds dedicated to providing investors with access to unique and competitive yield-oriented strategies that change the world for the better. Founded on the conviction that significant private capital is needed to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues, TriLinc’s primary goal is to deliver sophisticated, institutional quality impact investment products that will attract private capital at scale. TLG sponsored funds are managed through its two SEC Registered Investment Advisor subsidiaries, TriLinc Advisors, LLC and TriLinc Global Advisors, LLC. For more information, please visit www.trilincglobal.com.

About Symbiotics

Symbiotics is an investment company specialized in emerging, sustainable and inclusive finance. Since its inception in 2005, it has invested USD 3.8 billion in more than 360 financial institutions in 75 emerging countries, working as an advisor or manager of about 30 investment funds and many institutional investors. The firm is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in Cape Town, London, Zurich, Mexico City, and Singapore, employing over 120 staff globally. Symbiotics currently reaches out, indirectly through its investments, to more than 1,600,000 small enterprises and low income households at the base of the pyramid in emerging and frontier markets. For more information, please visit www.symbioticsgroup.com.

Contacts

TriLinc Global, LLC
Gloria Nelund, 310-220-0871
Chief Executive Officer

Christian Super Provides Leverage to TriLinc for Global Impact Investments

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Christian Super makes mission-aligned impact investment in TriLinc Global to increase financing to companies operating in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Christian Super and TriLinc Global

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Christian Super has selected TriLinc Global and its subsidiaries together (“TriLinc”) as part of its impact investing strategy after an in-depth due diligence process evaluating both investment performance and impact measurement.

“[@ChristianSupr] is excited to be partnered with [@TriLinc] Global in such a values aligned investment opportunity”

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Impact Investing is defined as investing with the specific objective to achieve a competitive financial return as well as creating positive, measurable impact in communities across the globe.

TriLinc is an innovative impact investing fund sponsor with a mission to link market-rate returns, positive impact, and scalable solutions. Through its strategies, it provides growth-stage loans and trade finance to established small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) in developing economies where access to affordable capital is significantly limited. Borrower companies must demonstrate the ability to pay market rates, pass TriLinc’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens, and commit to tracking and reporting on self-identified impact metrics. Since inception, Trilinc has invested over $692 million in private debt globally and seeks to demonstrate the power of the capital markets in helping to solve some of the world’s pressing socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

Christian Super is an Australian superannuation fund manager with over AU$1.3 billion in assets under management, serving more than 25,000 members with retirement savings investment based on Biblical values. Christian Super is a leader among institutional investors worldwide in impact investing. It recently committed an additional AU$50 million above the AU$100 million it has currently invested through its impact portfolio, funding innovative solutions in financial inclusion, renewable energy, and health care, among others. Like TriLinc, Christian Super avoids companies engaged in harmful activities and applies ESG screens to pursue financial returns alongside societal benefits. Building on its experience, Christian Super recently launched Brightlight Impact Advisory to help institutional investors source, diligence, select, and monitor impact investments.

“Christian Super is excited to be partnered with TriLinc in such a values aligned investment opportunity,” said Tim Macready, Chief Investment Officer of Christian Super. “TriLinc’s embracing view of Impact Investment is a great model of the future of global investment encompassing a broader focus than just financial metrics.”

“TriLinc is very pleased to partner with Christian Super in their impact investing portfolio,” said Gloria Nelund, Chairman and CEO of TriLinc Global, LLC. “Our collaboration serves as an example for how pension fund managers and other institutional investors can consider impact investments that meet financial objectives and also support positive environmental, social, governance, and impact activities that change the world for the better.”

About TriLinc Global, LLC

TriLinc Global is a private impact investment fund sponsor that seeks to provide investors with access to institutional-class, market-rate-return impact investment funds. Through its sponsored funds, TriLinc develops alternative investment strategies structured to pursue market-rate risk adjusted returns while fostering the view that capitalism can be a force for good.

About Christian Super

Christian Super is an employer sponsored superannuation fund that provides superannuation, investment, insurance, and pension services to employers and their staff. Christian Super aims to invest in accordance with Biblical principles, consistent with its Statement of Faith, to ensure that member funds are managed responsibly while growing for their future needs. To this purpose Christian Super pursues investment in corporations that care for people and God’s creation, demonstrate sound ethical practices, and meet performance standards in their social, environmental, and financial stewardship. For more information, please visit www.christiansuper.com.au.

Contacts

TriLinc Global, LLC
Gloria Nelund, 310-220-0871
Chief Executive Officer

TriLinc Global is proud to be featured as an industry leader at the annual Big Path Capital Impact Capitalism Summit

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On April 26th & 27th at the Union League Club of Chicago, Big Path Capital will host over 300 family offices, asset managers, and fund managers representing over $150 Bn in investable assets. The Impact Capitalism Summit aims to help institutional investors explore the links between social, environmental and financial capital. Click here for more information on the Big Path Capital Impact Capitalism Conference!

TriLinc Global Supports High Water Women’s Initiative to Empower Women through Impact Investing

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On April 7th, Joan Trant, TriLinc Global Director of Marketing & Impact, joined a group of senior women from the hedge fund and impact investing industries to assess the impact investing landscape and determine how High Water Women, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the social and economic empowerment of women and youth, can increase women’s awareness and participation in impact investing. Women hold a significant amount of wealth globally, and according to Kristan Wojner and Chuck Meek in Women’s Views of Wealth and the Planning Process: It’s Values That Matter, Not Just Value, women are estimated to inherit 70% of the $41 trillion in intergenerational wealth transfer expected over the next 40 years.

Following on its highly acclaimed Investing for Impact Symposium held October 3, 2013, High Water Women is building a strategic process and tools to support women seeking to invest in the impact space. “In addition to speaking at the Symposium, TriLinc Global is delighted to be part of this visionary and dynamic group convened by High Water Women,” said Ms. Trant. “TriLinc Global helps investors recognize the power they have through their investment decisions. Collaborating with High Water Women is an exciting opportunity to support women investors aiming to prove that investments with socioeconomic and environmental benefits also have the potential to achieve competitive returns for their portfolios.”

TriLinc Global CEO Judges for Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investment Challenge

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On April 4th, TriLinc Global CEO Gloria Nelund had the honor of judging the business plans of five exceptional MBA student-teams from various universities around the world at the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investment Challenge in the firm’s global headquarters in Manhattan. A total of 75 business school teams entered the competition, which filtered down to 10 teams pitching their sustainable finance proposals on Friday morning. The presentations were split between two groups of judges, who after first-round selections together selected the top four teams to present in the finals.

Proposals ranged from financing for solar irrigation projects in India to a fund for LED street-lighting in the United States. The grand prize of $10,000 was awarded to the four-student team from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, who proposed an investment vehicle to remediate brownfields using popular trees.