I’ve
spent the last few days studying up on the latest in the impact investing world
to see if there are any new opportunities for One Street and our partners. Let’s just
say, I’m glad to have resurfaced. I suppose it’s no surprise that an industry
that is springing from the financial industry has entrenched itself in so much
jargon and so many self-congratulating events. In recent years, I’ve also
attended some of these events only to be disappointed by their lack of vision
and ability to reach into the communities they claim to want to support.
Even
so, through the blinding glitz and endless mazes of the websites, I did hit on
a few organizations that seem to genuinely want to shift the world of investing
toward supporting social enterprises that are changing the world of business.
The general idea of impact investing is to invest in social businesses that
ideally include all of these elements:
- Producing products that
help alleviate a social problem such as water pumps for clean water or
sturdy bicycles for transporting goods,
- Providing job training and
jobs for impoverished people, and
- Ensuring that the products
they produce help lift those same impoverished families out of poverty.
One
Street’s Social Bike Business program,
which includes our Bike Shift Levers, is based on
these social business principles. We look for local partner organizations who
also strive toward this three-fold vision.
So, I
was hoping that circling back to the impact investing community would land me
on likely partners for us as well as our bicycle program partners around the
world. Time will tell as I prepare to send out a handful of letters to the most
interesting impact investment firms. I also dug out some old files that
reminded me of a few creative impact investment organizations that could
directly help our partners:
Kiva.org
works much like a crowdfunding platform, but instead of giving your money, you
lend it. You won’t make any interest, but you do get all your money back so you
can “invest” in another project. All the projects on Kiva are small businesses
owned by struggling people around the world. Even a loan of $25 can push them
into success.
ACCION.org
is similar to Kiva as it offers small loans to small businesses and
social enterprises, but their loans are larger and the lending system is a bit
more complicated.
I also
found some very good articles that came out in the last few months. Most claim
that 2014 will be the
year of impact investing because of all the energy that
has been focused into these efforts. If you want to read about some of the most
active and effective impact investing organizations, read:
Is
Social Impact Investing The Next Venture Capital? – Forbes, September 20,
2014
WEF
Offers Impact Investing Road Map for Wealthy Families – Bloomberg, December
4, 2014
2014
in Impact Investing: The Big Bang and its Aftermath – Huffington Post,
December 16, 2014
Beyond
profits: Millennials embrace investing for social good – LA Times, December
7, 2014
As I wove my way through websites and articles, I was
also not surprised by the lack of bicycle programs listed in the programs
supported. I did find a few and you can bet that those organizations made my
list to contact.
Unfortunately, most of the products that were being
supported were technology based. Not that there’s anything wrong with that...
But we know how much benefit bicycles could bring to an investment movement
bent on alleviating poverty.
Do you know of any success stories where impact
investment lifted a bicycle program into a significantly higher level of
effectiveness? I don’t. The few I have come across over the years seem to show
little gain from the investments made. Please share your stories and links.
Even just a few great examples could inspire other similar partnerships between
impact investors and great bicycle programs.
Sue
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