Fi Impact Investing Forum closes its fifth edition with over 500 attendees
· Committing investments to emerging markets like Africa and Latin America and the importance of the human factor in investing were the main topics covered at the meeting held yesterday in Madrid and organized by Social Nest Foundation, the global platform for social and environmental impact investors and entrepreneurs
· Leading international experts in impact investment guided half a thousand attendees through discussions on the challenges facing the sector and the wide range of investment opportunities for generating a positive impact on a global level
· Margarita Albors, president and founder of the Social Nest Foundation, highlighted how "the success of the Fi Impact Investing Forum demonstrates the growing interest in impact investing in Spain, by both private investors and family offices, as well as public administrations".
Madrid, May 11, 2023. Fi Impact Investing Forum, Europe’s largest meeting on impact investing, held its fifth edition with the aim of highlighting the transformative power of capital and analyzing new trends in impact investing.
Organized by Social Nest Foundation, the global platform for personal investors and entrepreneurs in social and environmental impact, the event held at the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid drew over 500 attendees, 40% of whom came from abroad, including investors, asset owners and managers, and entrepreneurs.
During the meeting, leading international experts in impact investing presented the short-term and medium-term challenges facing the sector, as well as new investment opportunities with special focus on how to draw new global investors into emerging markets and how to position Madrid and Spain as a burgeoning impact investment ecosystem.
Margarita Albors, the founder and president of Social Nest Foundation, called for closer ties among all the players in the impact ecosystem. “It is important for investors, companies, startups, civil society and public administrations to work together to meet the challenges facing humanity.” In addition, she affirmed that “Spain is seeing rising interest among personal investors looking for ways to align their capital with their values.”
Along the same lines, Juan Manuel López Zafra, General Director of Economy in the Community of Madrid, stated that “Madrid offers an attractive framework for fostering entrepreneurship and impact investing: we have the lowest tax rates in Spain, freedom to do business and the strongest post-pandemic economic recovery in the entire country.”
The human factor in impact investing
Over the course of the Fi Impact Investing Forum, various speakers underscored the humanization of the impact economy, which must provide a people-oriented social service. In fact, Ging Ledesma, Director of Strategy and Sustainable Impact at Oikocredit International, encouraged attendees to become “warriors for change. Impact investing is about exactly that: concern for people, for individuals, for how they are doing and what they need. No matter the age, who you are or where you come from, we are all equal.”
In this same sense, Nico Blaauw, partner at Goodwell, pointed out that “we are talking about problems here and there, about numbers and data, but what this really is about is people, about hope and goals. The goal is not to choose between either social or economic concerns, but rather to fight for them both, and that’s where investors come in, we have the opportunity to change things.”
Investment Opportunities in emerging markets
Another one of the meeting’s most important issues was investment opportunities in emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America. In this regard, Tim Radjy, Chairman of Alphamundi, noted that “fifteen years ago these kinds of emerging economies were practically insignificant in the total world GDP, but by 2024 they are expected to be nearly half. If someone gets advised not to invest in emerging economies because of the risks they supposedly entail, they should, quite simply, get a new advisor.”
Further, Yaw Pepraw, Investor Relations manager at GoodWell, recommended investing in Africa by explaining “it is a continent whose population is on the rise, especially in terms of young people, with improving and growing urbanization. Infrastructure development is driving a rapid increase in Internet access and allowing innovative business models to effectively address their target audience. As the purchasing power of most of the population increases, it is driving an increase in average spending.”
Fi Impact Investing Forum received support from Oikocredit, Goodwell, Alphamundi, Invest in Madrid, Zubi Capital, Global Social Impact Investments and Q Impact.
For further information and the complete program, visit the Fi Forum web.
