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See Impact Investing As Part of An Evolution Towards a Fairer Society: Ronald Cohen
Ronald Cohen, one of the pioneers of private equity in Europe who set up and ran investment group Apax Partners for 33 years, has turned into an evangelist for social enterprises. The 70-year-old, currently chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures, believes that impact investing -which looks at both financial and social returns -can be a game changer for social development. Cohen, with more than $55 billion of global assets under management, is in India to meet investors, philanthropists and social entrepreneurs. In an interview with ET, he talks about the global trends in the social investment space.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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What Motivates Companies to Do Good—Altruism, or Guilt?
Talk of doing society good is by now a standard component of American companies’ messaging. Whether they meet that stated goal is another matter, but still, the impetus for it all is still a bit mysterious: Why have multi-billion-dollar firms invested so heavily on corporate social responsibility, or CSR, programs in the last few decades? Are firms engaging in socially conscious behavior for honest reasons, or simply to direct attention away from some of their more harmful behaviors?
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Mobile Data Has the Answers, But First, We Need to Ask the Right Questions
I’ve realized that when guiding social enterprises, nonprofits and international NGOs to begin using data, it’s helpful to focus on a key, sometimes obvious point: data has to actually answer a critical business or programmatic question. Mobile data collection for the sake of collecting data isn’t enough.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Graduating Out of Extreme Poverty in Haiti … Permanently
Six years ago, microlending firm Fonkoze launched Chemin Lavi Mio, or the "pathway to a better life," pilot program. CLM is designed to move women and their families out of extreme poverty – permanently. It provides support over the course of 18 months through a carefully tailored package of asset transfers, improved housing and sanitation, water filters and, importantly, weekly visits that provide mentoring and guidance. Anton Simanowitz returns to Haiti to check on the poverty "graduation" effort as it looks to scale.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Evaluation that Creates Value for Participants: A Client-Centric Approach
Too often, the process of collecting data to evaluate impact, regardless of the intent, feels extractive to the research participants. Extractive industries are those that obtain natural resources from the earth without provision for the potential negative consequences of extraction. Similarly, some evaluations extract data from disadvantaged communities without providing any benefit in return. How Root Capital has taken a more client-centric approach.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- research
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The Scope of Private Actors in Impact Investing, Philanthropy
According to Central Statistics Office data released last month, the per capita income in real terms (at 2011-2012 prices) in 2015-2016 is set to reach Rs.77,431 as compared to Rs.72,889 in 2014-2015.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Morningstar Introduces Industry’s First Sustainability Rating for 20,000 Global Funds
To help investors evaluate funds based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today introduced the Morningstar Sustainability Rating™ for funds. The new rating will enable investors around the world to evaluate mutual funds and exchange-traded funds based on how well the companies held in their funds are managing their ESG risks and opportunities.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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How Your Company Can Become a Social Innovator
The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social innovation defines social innovation as “the application of innovative, practical, sustainable, market-based approaches to benefit society in general, and low-income or under-served populations in particular." Traditionally associated with social entrepreneurs, this tool is increasingly being adopted by business. This is a trend to be welcomed, supported and replicated as companies – big or small, multinational or national – can contribute to taking the practice of social innovation to a significantly larger scale.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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