The Reality of Impact Investing: Stories from the Field

Save the world and make money at the same time? A former British banker and a former British bank robber want to do this just as two Indian entrepreneurs or a German educator for hearing-impaired persons. They promote the rehabilitation of former prisoners, run biomass power stations to generate energy from rice husks or offer a mobile interpreting service for deaf persons. Their investors are so-called impact investors: they stand security, give credits or equity capital to social or environmental projects, and they want to do good while making money at the same time. But is impact investing really the new miracle cure to meet all our societal challenges? In reports on eight social entrepreneurs and interviews with three professional impact investors the author and WELT reporter Dr. Inga Michler demonstrates: impact investing is merely one instrument in the toolbox in order to solve social and environmental problems. Under certain conditions it can be very effective, however, financial return is by no means guaranteed. Initiated by Active Philanthropy, supported by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the KfW Group and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt.