In our 11th episode, Patrick Nussbaumer and Winnie Odhiambo discuss impact investing in frontier markets. Patrick works for UNIDO’s innovative finance division, and Winnie is an impact investing professional whose career spans working with pension funds, VCs, in private equity and in private debt. We explore the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in impact investing and how to mitigate country risk in emerging markets. We also discuss the need for more investments into climate adaptation, and the specific challenges of impact measurement in this field.
Links:
· The definition of impact investing by GIIN, the Global Impact Investing Network
· The Catalyst Fund’s report on Investing in Climate Tech Innovation in Africa
· PFAN, the Private Financing Advisory Network, is connecting investors to high-potential climate and clean energy projects in emerging markets
· UNIDO’s Catalyst Fund for Fintech-Enabled Climate Adaptation is accelerating and de-risking innovation in frontier markers
· Development finance institutions (DFIs) active in emerging economies include IFC, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), the African Development Bank and Norfund.
· Patrick’s analysis on Key trends in domestic finance for energy access and transition in frontier markets
· The Benchmark analysis of frameworks for measuring climate resilience and adaptation produced with input from the Working Group in which Patrick is active
· The research on Impact Linked Compensation mentioned by Patrick
Time stamps
On some podcast players, you should be able to jump to the section by clicking:
(01:47) – Winnie and Patrick introduce themselves
(05:45) – Winnie’s and Patrick’s approach to impact investing
(08:59) – Winnie’s role in facilitating transactions
(10:53) – Impact measurement in climate adaptation vs climate mitigation
(16:28) – The role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in mobilizing investment in emerging markets
(18:26) – Investing in SMEs in emerging markets
(23:40) – Mitigating country risk
(25:42) – The role of local financial institutions
(28:42) – UNIDO’s role in facilitating transactions.
(31:37) – The need for more investment into climate adaptation
(34:39) – The difference between adaptation and resilience
(37:15) – The need for investment in post-conflict economies
(39:06) – Geographic concentration of impact investing and wealth concentration
(40:27) – Incentivizing impact at fund manager level
(43:51) – Winnie predicts increasing regulatory scrutiny towards impact investors, especially those raising funding from public sources
Contact
For feedback on the show or to suggest guests for future episodes, contact us at scifi@esmt.org
