AlphaMundi Team Roadshow in Spain: Strengthening the Impact Ecosystem

AlphaMundi Group Ltd recently embarked on an exciting roadshow across Spain, visiting key cities including Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid, learning from and contributing to the impact investment ecosystem in Spain. During their journey, Tim Radjy and Juan Pedro Coello de Portugal engaged with local investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem partners to share knowledge, explore collaboration opportunities, and highlight how impact investing can drive positive social and environmental change.

Here are some key takeaways from the last 10 days:

1. Social Nest Foundation - The GAP in Between - Valencia

Organized by Social Nest Foundation , the second edition of “The GAP in Between” annual summit took place on 7-8 October in Valencia, and was dedicated to “Transforming Businesses for Positive Change”. The event brought together close to 1,000 participants, including 80 investors, 140 startups, and 80 speakers, including key organizations and public institutions contributing to the vibrant Spanish impact ecosystem.

Conference takeaways:? The agenda included topics such as Systemic Change and The Role of Finance to Build a Climate Resilient Future Economy, and specific sectorial panels on Food Systems, Urban Landscapes, and Low Carbon Energy Transition, among others.

AlphaMundi’s contributions: Tim Radjy, our Founder and Managing Partner, contributed as a speaker to the panel “The Role of Finance to Catalyse Social Progress in a Future Economy”, together with Borja García Fernandez (Citi Social Finance), Linn-Cecilie Linnemann (European impact fund manager LUMO Labs ) and Raúl Sánchez, PhD ( COFIDES ). The conversation, moderated by Anais Mangin ( Oxfam ), emphasized the need for alignment among diverse stakeholders to transform the financial system and fund the UN SDGs.

Key insights from the panel:

• The importance of social finance innovation to address market failures.
• A shared purpose and spirit of collaboration across stakeholders are essential for success.
• Educating asset owners about impact investing is crucial.
• Addressing and lowering investor risk perception to mobilize capital in high-impact sectors and regions.
• The transformative role of AI in accelerating impact.
• The collaboration between impact investing and philanthropy is critical for long-term change.

2. GSG Spain NAB - V Camino al Impacto - Madrid

Last Monday 14 October, AlphaMundi participated in the fifth edition of the SpainNAB ’s annual conference “Camino al Impacto” in Madrid. Celebrating its first 5 years of existence, we were inspired by the engaging panels and thought-provoking speakers.

The mission of Spain NAB is to promote, develop, and enhance social entrepreneurship and impact investing across Spain. As a leading platform for the advancement of and advocacy for impact investing, the association seeks to raise awareness and drive meaningful change within the investment community, civil society, public administrations, corporations, and society at large.

Spain NAB is committed to fostering an environment where impact investing becomes a core element of financial processes, contributing to sustainable development and the well-being of communities.

?Key takeaways from the event:

• The urgent need to mobilize institutional capital toward impact investing from the perspective of Impact Funds, Banks, and Foundations.
• Clarifying the distinction between Impact Investing and Sustainable Finance to prevent "impact washing" and maintain investor trust.
• The three pillars of impact investing — Intentionality, Measurability, and Additionality— are crucial for credibility and transparency.
• Case studies of impact-driven agricultural companies illustrated the challenge of balancing profitability with positive social and environmental outcomes.
• The recent launch of Spain Nab's Reports:

o?? “La Oferta de Capital de Impacto en Espa?a 2023”

o?? “Código de Buenas Prácticas de la Inversión de Impacto”

o?? “The 5Ws of Impact Investing”, from Impact Europe.

These three reports can be downloaded here .

• The great GAP in investment in LATAM, which receives only 4% of the global impact investment capital, while representing a huge opportunity to tackle social and environmental issues.
• The relevance of providing adequate technical assistance to companies and communities in The Global South to ensure they are the protagonists of change.
• The need to generate systemic change in communities in The Global South, spreading the assistance and tools not only to the invested companies, but to the communities, to make sure that impact is sustained in the long term, once international investors leave the territory.
• The relevance of impact accounting that will revolutionize the way investors invest and will help money flow to those that do the best job in optimizing risk, impact, and return.

Powerful quotes:

• Jose Moncada Durruti , from Bolsa Social : "10 years ago, there was no confusion in what Impact Investing is, because no one in Spain knew what it was (…) Now we are publishing a Code of Good Practices that clarifies what impact investing is, based on intentionality, measurability and additionality."
• Agustín Vitórica Gutiérrez-Cortines from GAWA Capital : “Latin America is the most unequal region in the world, the challenges there are immense (…). The protagonist of change needs to be the Global South”
• Sir Ronald Cohen , from GSG Impact : " Our world is in big need of transformation - environmental damage and catastrophes have made evident that the world needs transformation. If we want to tackle the world's environmental and social challenges, the only way to do it is through impact. We are talking about the path to impact economies: 40 trillion dollars going into ESG investments, some 20% of the capital markets; 2.5 trillion dollars invested in impact, including sustainability-linked bonds; 1.5 trillion dollars in sustainability-linked bonds, where the rate falls if sustainability targets are achieved. We will reach a new economic system of risk, return and impact.”

Conclusion:

These events underscored the vital role of collaboration, innovation, and accountability in shaping the future of impact investing. We are proud to contribute to these conversations and will continue to foster partnerships that drive meaningful change in Spain and beyond.