I recently had the opportunity to spend a week at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship immersed in the school’s Impact Investing in Africa course.
The Global Impact Investing Network (The GINN) defines impact investments as "investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return."
The course, convened by Shiluba Mawela CA (SA) and Christopher Ahlfeldt, exposes you to a great deal of content including models for solving social challenges at scale through the mobilization of capital to deliver measurable impact and returns for investors.
Besides the class sessions, it was an absolute pleasure to exchange knowledge and learn from investors, fund managers, academic experts, and peers on best practices, successes, and failures from global and African perspectives.
The week culminated in the class participating in team pitches as investors looking to promote social change in education, health, affordable housing, sustainable agriculture, and SME support through our newly acquired impact lenses and toolkits.
Sir Ronald Cohen, widely considered the "Godfather of Social Impact Investing," was our surprise guest speaker and a delightful cap to what was an incredibly informative and practical learning experience. We closed out the week with a field trip to The Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking Afrika* at UCT.
Impact investing is a rapidly evolving field with a global market that currently stands at US$1.164 trillion in assets under management according to The GIIN's Sizing the Impact Investing Market Report—and Africa is already at the forefront of unlocking its potential to improve access to capital, create jobs, and finance projects in a sustainable manner.
The potential for impact investing in Africa is vast and the course provided me with a valuable platform to explore the dynamics of this exciting field as well as build a great network of like-minded professionals and peers.
I walked away equipped with the knowledge, motivation, and resources to begin my journey into the world of impact investing – and I look forward to seeing its positive effects on the African continent.
