Investing for good: moving into the mainstream?

Katie Fish, London October 2016 Associate, and Francesca Spoerry, London April 2017 Associate, write about the upcoming Impact Investing Summit on 15th June 2017 organized by The Economist.

Our current placements

How did we go from working in a law firm in Beijing and a start-up in Copenhagen to joining more than 200 of the world’s leading financiers and policymakers at an impact investing conference in London?

Through our On Purpose placements we are working at the UK’s wholesale impact investing firm, Big Society Capital. We are six weeks into our placement and already working with a variety of projects, from setting up a 10-year multi-million pound fund aimed at alleviating aspects of poverty in the UK, to educating charity trustees on social investment 101.

We have found the journey incredibly exciting and interesting, not least because Big Society Capital is a firm like no other. Like most start-ups it started life in a founder’s garage — but this was Sir Ronalds’ Cohen in Mayfair (Sir Ronal Cohen is often described as ‘the father of British venture capital’). From its very first day, it was capitalised with up to £600 million, and had a remit to help grow the social investment market in the UK. Since then it has worked tirelessly to learn, educate and invest in the market.

Next month marks its fifth anniversary. This milestone will be marked by the launch of a new strategy aimed at growing social investment in the U.K.

Can purpose-driven finance move into the mainstream?

On Thursday 15th June, we will be attending the Impact Investing Summit organised by The Economist in London. This year the conference will focus on whether impact investing, or purpose-driven finance, can move into the mainstream. In 2016, investors looking for financial returns that demonstrate social good committed $22.1 billion to 8,000 investments, according to a recent report, and indeed all signs are that impact investment is on the rise.

The conference will also address the continuing debate over whether there is a necessary trade-off between financial return and social impact during a panel session provocatively entitled “Values-based banking: Is this a contradiction in terms?”

There is less on the agenda about the beneficiaries of investments themselves and how investors can be responsive to their needs. A short interactive session does promise a discussion of definitions and poses the question — ‘How can investors be sure they are avoiding ‘green washing’?’, and a session on ‘Measuring Impact’ is set to explore the possibilities of innovations such as artificial intelligence and data-mining for impact measurement.

In the light of the recent US move to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the final session, an Oxford style debate on whether investors and bankers rather than politicians or social movements ‘are the best hope for avoiding climate disaster’ should also be particularly illuminating.

We look forward to updating you after the event with the latest thinking of the investment industry.

Summit speakers include Sir Ronald Cohen, Michele Giddens, Partner and Co-founder of Bridges Ventures, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Co-Chair of the Commission on Business and Sustainable Development and Nigel Kershaw, Chair of the Big Issue Group. Find out more about the conference here.

Join in the conversation on Twitter using #EconImpact @EconomistEvents.

The Pioneers Post will also be following the event on Twitter.