business.outlookindia.com | “We Will Take The Risks That Investors Cannot Afford To”.
The idea of using profit-seeking investments to bring about social and environmental good is slowly catching the imagination of the financial world. The new investing mantra has been termed ‘impact investing’ and the size of the market is expected to be $500 billion within the next decade. Even within this nascent sector, clear segments are emerging: there are the ‘impact first’ types—whose primary aim is to generate social and environmental good, and who are willing to give up some financial return if they have to; there are the ‘financial first’ types—commercial investors who seek out sectors that offer market returns while also achieving some good. And then, there are the yin-yang deals that combine capital from impact-first and financial-first investors.