Can you elaborate a bit on the reason why you founded the GIIN and how it has developed since?
In 2009 when the GIIN was founded, it was before the SDG’s and the Paris climate accords. But we recognized that the traditional way of working would be insufficient to rise to the challenges of inequality, climate change, and gender inequity… and all the other critical problems that needed attention and resources.
There were several examples of investors around the world putting capital to work to improve the lives of people and to address environmental issues while maintaining a financial return. We saw the potential to build a global industry and a new way of investing at scale and launched the GIIN to harness the opportunity.
Interview with Amit Bouri, CEO and co-founder of GIIN
GIIN, The Global Impact Investing Network is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing around the world.
At the GIIN you put emphasis on the importance of measuring, finding indicators and ways of describing the impact of the Investments. Why is this important?
We see a growing trend amongst investors to commit to net zero, the SDG’s or specific targets like regenerative agriculture or advancing gender equity. Many investors want to measure their success by the actual impact their investments have on people and on the planet. The measurements are important because it helps translate the good impact intentions into real impact results. It helps us focus on advancing the global goals to be anchored in measures that will drive real results for societies and the planet.
Our tools help investors formulate strategies around impact and identify the core metric sets that they can use to measure and understand their impact performance at a granular level. We envision that these practices and principles will become a standard part of how investors conduct business. That investors will look at their impact performance and their financial performance side by side when they think about whether they’re being successful.
We are not advancing as quickly as we would like on the SDGs or on agenda 2030. What are the most important actions to take?
I think this is a really challenging time and we are constantly contending with all the effects of the poly-crises that we are navigating; the mix of the pandemic, the climate crises, the ecological collapse, and rising inequality. To address systemic problems, we must think about solutions in systemic ways. So, to address the poly-crisis, we have to shift the way finance operates on a fundamental level. I believe we can change some of the fundamentals so that impact becomes part of the new business-as-usual, where investors wake up daily thinking about their impact alongside financial performance.
We see a growing trend amongst investors to commit to net zero, the SDG’s or specific targets like regenerative agriculture or advancing gender equity. Many investors want to measure their success by the actual impact their investments have on people and on the planet. The measurements are important because it helps translate the good impact intentions into real impact results. It helps us focus on advancing the global goals to be anchored in measures that will drive real results for societies and the planet.
Our tools help investors formulate strategies around impact and identify the core metric sets that they can use to measure and understand their impact performance at a granular level. We envision that these practices and principles will become a standard part of how investors conduct business. That investors will look at their impact performance and their financial performance side by side when they think about whether they’re being successful.
We are not advancing as quickly as we would like on the SDGs or on agenda 2030. What are the most important actions to take?
I think this is a really challenging time and we are constantly contending with all the effects of the poly-crises that we are navigating; the mix of the pandemic, the climate crises, the ecological collapse, and rising inequality. To address systemic problems, we must think about solutions in systemic ways. So, to address the poly-crisis, we have to shift the way finance operates on a fundamental level. I believe we can change some of the fundamentals so that impact becomes part of the new business-as-usual, where investors wake up daily thinking about their impact alongside financial performance.
It’s important to recognize that every successful impact investment has a positive impact on people which can in itself have a multiplying effect. You get households that have greater stability, and better livelihoods can ripple through generations and through communities.
How do you view the DFIs and their role for impact investing and mobilizing private capital.
DFIs operate at a critical juncture in the broader effort to mobilize capital for the SDGs. DFIs have a tremendous amount of expertise and experience and relationships on the ground, and an ability to work with investors in ways that donor agencies and other entities usually aren’t able to do. For example, DFI’s play a critical role in amplification and mobilization.
I hope that the GIIN can continue to be an essential partner to the DFI community and that we have a global network of investors mainly from private investors who are interested in helping to move more capital to high-impact projects. DFIs also have pipelines and learnings to share with that broader audience.
An investment can create ripple effects for country, societies, and people. Every investment and every effort to create impact is important if we want to reach agenda 2030. Do you agree?
Yes, of course. I previously spoke about systemic change, and we must focus on that. But it’s also important to recognize that every successful impact investment has a positive impact on people which can in itself have a multiplying effect. You get households that have greater stability, and better livelihoods can ripple through generations and through communities. And similarly, every company that is growing and having a positive impact is another example of building a broader ecosystem of the private sector actors in the given country and around the world.
The GIIN seeks to help accelerate that ripple effect. By design, we are growing a global network to help to spread learnings, ideas, and opportunities. We don’t want people in Kenya, India, Singapore, and Stockholm reinventing the wheel in isolation. Instead, we want to help accelerate the flow of information, ideas, and resources so that we can collectively become more effective faster in response to the poly-crises were all contending with.
DFIs operate at a critical juncture in the broader effort to mobilize capital for the SDGs. DFIs have a tremendous amount of expertise and experience and relationships on the ground, and an ability to work with investors in ways that donor agencies and other entities usually aren’t able to do. For example, DFI’s play a critical role in amplification and mobilization.
I hope that the GIIN can continue to be an essential partner to the DFI community and that we have a global network of investors mainly from private investors who are interested in helping to move more capital to high-impact projects. DFIs also have pipelines and learnings to share with that broader audience.
An investment can create ripple effects for country, societies, and people. Every investment and every effort to create impact is important if we want to reach agenda 2030. Do you agree?
Yes, of course. I previously spoke about systemic change, and we must focus on that. But it’s also important to recognize that every successful impact investment has a positive impact on people which can in itself have a multiplying effect. You get households that have greater stability, and better livelihoods can ripple through generations and through communities. And similarly, every company that is growing and having a positive impact is another example of building a broader ecosystem of the private sector actors in the given country and around the world.
The GIIN seeks to help accelerate that ripple effect. By design, we are growing a global network to help to spread learnings, ideas, and opportunities. We don’t want people in Kenya, India, Singapore, and Stockholm reinventing the wheel in isolation. Instead, we want to help accelerate the flow of information, ideas, and resources so that we can collectively become more effective faster in response to the poly-crises were all contending with.
Many investors want to measure their success by the actual impact their investments have on people and on the planet.
