Developed by ECOSTAR and powered by Fledge, the Nature-Accelerator is an intensive eight week acceleration programme for nature-based startups. Find out more on Ecostarhub.com
Tonight I’ve been asked to explain a bit about impact investing… To do that, we have to first talk about philanthropy
And there would be no philanthropy without entrepreneurs and investors
One of the key people who linked these two topics is the great Scotsman entrepreneur, Andrew Carnegie
Mr. Carnegie was 100 years ago the richest person in the world. He started with nothing and focused most of his life (to make as much money as possible…)
It wasn’t until he had a fortune did he think about giving it all away. . (The idea of)
The idea of earning a fortune and then giving it all away is an invention. Barely 100 years old. (and the consequence)
And the consequence of that invention is the idea that solving POVERY, HUNGER, HEALTH, ETC. is the realm of philanthropists. It’s not. (So stepping back)
Investing an Philanthropy are linked. They are (in fact two corners of a continuous landscape)
They are not separate pockets of money. Here’s how that works.
On the vertical axis we have financial return. At the top, maximum returns. At the bottom, zero returns. In the middle, all the other choices. (On the horizontal)
On the horizontal axis, we have impact. To the left, investors don’t care about impact. On the right, philanthropists want to maximize the impact of their donations. In between, there are again other choices. (The whole space)
The whole space between the two extremes is what we call impact investing. It is simply the idea that we can turn money into impact, and in that process get some or all or more than all of that money back. (This is what Fledge)
This is what Fledge does. We make money through investing money into impactful startups. (We do this in seven cities)
We do this in seven cities around the world, with more to come. Thousands of entrepreneurs from over 150 countries have applied to attend. Every country not in gray. Tonight we complete our twelfth session and in the next hour we will have 81 fledglings from 26 countries. (It is my pleasure)
It is my pleasure to hand over this stage to the latest eight companies. The fledglings of the first Nature-Accelerator. Thank you.