Impact Investing Initiative

History

 

The Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A.’s Impact Investing Initiative is a direct outgrowth of AKF USA’s history of implementing social development programs. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has for decades been a leader in mobilizing investment capital for development purposes—what is known today as Impact Investing.
 
For more than 50 years AKDN has financed critical economic infrastructure in the developing world including banks, energy utilities, and media enterprises; the profits from which are reinvested in entrepreneurial enterprises in emerging markets. AKDN now is applying the discipline of impact investing to its portfolio of social investment opportunities.
 
In 2010, AKF USA launched an eight-month scoping study to explore how other organizations use impact investing to support their work and to identify the bottlenecks that prevent the industry from scaling. Based on the study’s findings, AKF USA developed a pilot Impact Investing Initiative that was approved in February 2011.

 

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The Initiative

 
The Impact Investing Initiative of AKF USA has three primary objectives:
 

1. Mobilize investment capital for high-impact social enterprises within the AKDN; 
2. Make mission-related investments in support of AKDN enterprises and/or beneficiaries;
3. Support efforts to remove barriers preventing scaling of the impact investing sector.

 
Read a recent blog post here.
 

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The Future

 
As AKF USA's Impact Investing Initiative looks forward, we are focused on:
 

• Expanding AKDN's facilities for providing social services (for example, secondary and tertiary hospitals in Pakistan; university campuses in South/Central Asia and East Africa)
• Replicating successful development models in other countries across East and West Africa, South/Central Asia and the Middle East
• Achieving sustainability along value chains that incorporate smallholder farmers (for example, large-scale agro-processing with technical assistance and small- and medium-sized enterprise financing for farmers in Central Asia and East Africa)

 
AKF USA’s Impact Investing Initiative will also host and take part in events that promote information sharing and network effects across the industry.
 
If you would like more information on the Initiative or how to partner with us, please contact: impactinvesting.akfusa@akdn.org.
 

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AKF USA is a member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.
 

 
Aga Khan Foundation Canada partnered with Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration to welcome international speakers on topics such as impact investing, new approaches to microfinance, and innovative financing for early human development for their series, AKFC Seminars on Innovative Financing for Development. The series is co-funded by CIDA. For a recorded video of the seminar, please click here.