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Clarifying positive impact
Finding the real meaning
As the effect of Silicon Valley ripples through each country, sector and entrepreneur, I’ve witnessed both the positive and negative changes.
An abundance of money is being pumped into startups all over the world, whether or not they actually have a working prototype or in some cases, a feasible idea. Fine, it’s your money (well kinda), you can invest it where you want.
Then you had the philanthropists, who were looking to donate large amounts of money to green or social projects. Excellent, with both government funding and donations decreasing, there’s a funding gap to be filled.
More recently, social entrepreneurship has found its footing and is starting to become prevalent in some countries. Legal structures have been formed, governments have set up policies and strategies, and universities have started teaching it. Now we have impact investment, and funds for impact companies.
What is impact investment?
In a nutshell, impact investment follows the usual rules of any investment. The investors are looking for a return over a number of years and will also have equity in the company.
However with impact investment the return isn’t just financial, but can be linked to a number of social or…
