Impact Investing in Times of Crisis

Impact Investing in a Time of Crisis

Words of Hope and Thanks to the Extraordinary Leaders of OIIP Class of 2022

From Gayle Peterson, Director, Oxford Impact Investing Programme??

“These are the best of times and the worst of times; an age of wisdom and an age of foolishness; an epoch of belief and an epoch incredulity; a season of Light and a season of Darkness; a spring of hope and winter of despair.”?

With the effects of climate change being felt daily; biodiversity on the brink; the chasm of income inequality widening; and democracies in the balance, the world can feel like a page from Charles Dicken’s?Tale of Two Cities.?

And yet in the face of these wicked problems, there is hope.?

Last week, we saw firsthand, the power of possibility. For the first time in over two years, 40 executives from 21 countries, attended an in-person Oxford Impact Investing Programme. As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary of Impact Investing, this class joined 800 executive students from 80 countries who have attended programmes across our Impact Portfolio. Like the students before them, they represented multiple sectors—from nonprofits and public agencies—Save the Children, Shell Foundation, and United Nations Capital Development Fund to finance and family offices—PGGM, Wellington Management, and Bank of Montreal.??

Their differences united them. They came in search of global comradery, and impact investing solutions to their challenges. The class identified core values of trust, transparency, humility, and intentionality as the cornerstones of strong partnerships. New friendships were built on these precepts.??

Although students may have come to learn the nuts and bolts of deal making, they left with knowledge well beyond the deal sheet. Financial tools were woven together with timely leadership strategies spanning impact investments in Africa, Latin America, North America, and Asia. Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UNDP Human Security Framework, our students were asked to make their investment in systems, not silos. To put the most vulnerable and community at the centre of investment practice and build from community up—not top down. They were called on to do no harm by understanding impact through measurement strategies is based on numbers and nuance—not equations.?

This was the first cohort to benefit from lectures of Marya Besharov, Faculty Director and Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Impact. She brought leadership theory and practice to support and align change inside and outside of impact investing organizations. She showed how systems change impacts climate finance. These skills are timely as the field continues to grow rapidly. Now more than ever, executives must negotiate larger, more complex organizations to weave innovative investment practice into their culture and operations. As the field has grown, so have the leadership demands of impact investors who often move from founding entrepreneur into more sophisticated management roles. OIIP core faculty member Daniel Izzo, CEO Vox Capital, said this, “Our organization has grown from five to forty people. My role as a manager has grown and I must develop new skills shifting from hands on to supporting a team. These are very different skills.”?

Students had the rare opportunity to learned from real-time, real-life case studies taught by C-Suite executives designed to ground learning in leadership and finance, candour and truth telling. All faculty are chosen because they recognize that it is the stumbles and falls where real learning takes place. They believe in sharing their mistakes as willingly as their success. We encourage our students to do the same.

Special thanks to Dean Soumitra Dutta for joining us on his second day on the job and sharing his insights on his vision for the Business School and the need for extraordinary leaders, especially during times of crisis.

Highlights of guest faculty who inspired us with humour and tales of trials and outtakes:?

·???????Shaun Kingsbury, CIO of Just Climate, issued a call to action to join the field of Climate Finance—the time frame to meet net zero is tight and requires scale, talent, and commitment NOW.???

·???????Jamie Merisotis, CEO of Lumina Foundation, taught a new case?Impact Investing at Lumina Foundation: Potential, Pitfalls, and Progress ?illuminating?ways leaders must adroitly (and clumsily) move from idea, to implementation, to iteration. Spoiler alert: Leaders must be prepared to ride the wave of change and chaos and adapt.?(Link to case embedded in title.)

·???????Rod Schwartz, founder, and former CEO of ClearlySo, openly discussed his wins and losses, after Europe’s leading impact investment bank closed its doors.??

·???????Michael Muers, CEO of Big Society Capital, previewed accomplishments, and lessons at its 10-year anniversary. Students had a chance to offer advice on a vision forward.?

·???????Noelle Laing, CIO of Builders Initiative Investment team and for the past eight years has built the direction of this family office’s impact-first investment and management of its endowment. She shared the challenges of building something new with a family devoted climate justice, oceans preservation, and rural economic growth.?Make Money Matter: Expanding Impact Investing for Sustainable Oceans, Fisheries, and Livelihoods ?case was shared with students.?(Link provided in title.) Bridget Kustin, Research Fellow, Sa?d Business School and Qualitative Lead, The Ownership Project shared her research findings and Hari Balasubramanian of EcoAdvisors provided context on family offices.

In addition to guest faculty, our programme is unique because of the special collaboration among core faculty who have been with us almost since programme inception. We have been fortunate to have watched their impact investments evolve with the times. In addition to their lectures, students had the opportunity to work with faculty in “Get What You Need” small group tutorials designed to help them absorb and apply course content to their own circumstances. Our thanks to core faculty:

·???????Peter Hinton—CEO of Summit Develop Group and Associate Fellow and Doctoral student has spent years as an impact investor—wearing many hats—CDC staff and private investor. He has spent almost a decade researching low-cost private schools to improve education in Africa. He was joined in his session by Bunmi Lawson, CEO Managing Director, EdFin Microfinance Bank.?

·???????Daniel Izzo—CEO of Vox Capital, is one of the first impact investors in Brazil. He has managed funds that have advanced the SDGs in health care, poverty alleviation, and justice. He is an outspoken advocate of proudly proclaiming failure as a win and learning from the experience.?

·???????Karim Harji—an OIIP alumnae, Associate Fellow, and programme director of the Impact Measurement Programme and DPhil student is committed to helping students understand the depth and breadth of impact measurement and management tools. He recognizes—one-size does not fit all.??

·???????Jenn Pryce—CEO Calvert Impact Capital, was unable to join us this year. Her colleague, Catherine Godschalk, VP Investment, kindly stepped in. Catherine helped us get “into the weeds” on deal making in the Seychelles Blue Bond and forest conservation in California.

These relationships are built on friendship, trust, and personal respect and have allowed us to grow and modify the programme based on real-life experiences in the field.?

As part of our anniversary celebration, students met our alumnae who served as faculty and students:?

·???????Sombo Muzata—OIIP alum, who shared her research as she captures entry to exit for OIIP’s seminal ethics case study Afram Plains. Since OIIP, Sombo completed her MBA and PhD. She is a Nelson Mandela Scholar.?

·???????Joanna Cohen—OIMP alum, shared her experiences in leading Builders Vision, Impact Measurement and Management (IMM). She partnered with Noelle Laing to illustrate how IMM is integrated in Builders’ family office portfolio.

·???????Damian Payiatakis, OIIP alum and Barclays, Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing discussed wins and losses in sustainable investing and what it takes to be an intrapreneur within a large bank.?

We welcomed back alumni Peter Surek (Erste Group) of the Social Finance Programme and Gina Sanchez (Chantico Global, LLC), who attended the Impact Measurement Programme.?

Challenge assumptions, while having fun—is another hallmark of OIIP. This year, we added an Oxford-style debate:?Tainted Money or T’aint Never Enough?was the question put to the House for consideration. Chairperson, SBS Associate Fellow Kate Roll, discussed the value of words and negotiations before kicking off the debate. The topic of whether impact investors should accept funding from a tainted source is an issue raised annually by students in Social Finance and Impact Investing. We thought we would address it head on in typical Oxford Union format—with humour, sound arguments, and loud opinions from the audience.??

Near the end of class, as we sat together in Exeter College chapel inspired by the choir surrounded by stain glass forged 700 years ago. We know we don’t have 700 years to make a difference to preserve our planet and end injustice, but we can draw on the wisdom of those ages.?

In the words of J.R.R Tolkien, a member of Exeter College, “Courage is found in unlikely places.” We hope our gift to students is that they have courage and tools to challenge the status quo and take on the world’s most wicked problems.?

We are inspired by OIIP Class of 2022 and know they will be the leaders the world needs in these extraordinary times. (Yes, Vincent, this class was one of our very best.)?

Keep in touch. You know how to reach me.

With admiration,?

Gayle, on behalf of our team