Impact Investing
As excitement about social impact gains steam, so to do the discussions around impact investing. Here, renowned entrepreneurial expert and Harvard Business School Professor, Dr William Sahlman joins with the Rockefeller Innovation Award winning Sir Ronald Cohen to assert that Social Impact Investing Will Be The New Venture Capital in a Harvard Business Review post.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/social-impact-investing-will-b/
Impact Investing is not without its skeptics. Some, like Warren Buffett, note that it is difficult to simultaneously serve two masters: profit and meaningful social impact.
http://www.forbes.com/video/2886856992001/
Here, researchers from the ISIS Centre @ Sauder explore impact investing in some depth:
http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Faculty/Research_Centres/ISIS/Research/Social_Innovation/~/media/Files/ISIS/Reports/Social%20Economy%20Reports/DemystifyingImpactInvestingFinalVersionApril2014.ashx
Your World
a. What role does or could impact investing play in your industry?
b. Referring specifically to what you have read above: what unique industry challenges could you face if you were to take this dual approach, balancing profit and meaningful social impact?