Fresh perspectives to maximise the impact of your work

This Competence Framework provides a comprehensive roadmap for individuals seeking to excel in impact investment analysis. More specifically, we will delve into some key areas of the framework and explore how mastering them can lead to impactful investment decisions.

Investors and entrepreneurs who are passionate about creating social change know that their work can be complex and challenging. However, the Theory of Change can be a powerful tool to help organisations achieve their desired outcomes. In this article, we will explore what a Theory of Change is, its origin and adoption and what you need to know in order to design a well-articulated Theory of Change.

Entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions for pressing world challenges often end up being cash-strapped. One of the main reasons is because they fail to meet investors whose expectations are in tune with their level of maturity and the design of their impact business model. This is what is often referred to as the missing middle. In this article, we share some essential tips for investors who want to help create a level playing field and invest in early-stage ventures who seek to contribute to urgent societal goals with innovative solutions.

When referring to the valuation of social or environmental outcomes, eyebrows tend to be raised with circumspection: “Are you trying to put a price tag on things such as well-being, quality relationships, or biodiversity?” The simple answer is: No. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, valuation is not “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing”.

In this article, we bust important myths and highlight the key benefits of valuing social and environmental outcomes in order to manage your impact on people and the planet.

We already know that learning and teaching impact skills to the current and future workforce is essential to reach climate targets and address the planet’s most compelling challenges. But, who is responsible for implementing this change and how can we achieve it?

Upskilling workers and employees with green and social skills, otherwise known as impact skills, is an effective means to accelerate the climate transition. Yet, while demand is high for learning these skills and employing workers with such skills, there is a recognisable deficit of accessible, transparent and accredited teaching opportunities. Bridging this gap provides the solution.

Meaningful stakeholder engagement refers to the routine interaction with any relevant stakeholders, including those individuals that are affected by your decisions, with the openness to adjust your services based on their feedback. Yet, currently, stakeholder engagement is used more as a buzzword as opposed to its purpose of tangibly influencing decision making. So how do we turn stakeholder engagement from just a buzzword to a meaningful and practical process?

In mainstream investing, success is measured through financial performance – returns. To align fund managers’ interests, their carry is tied to it. If impact investing promises both financial and impact performance, should we link compensation accordingly?

In order to implement impact measurement and management (IMM) at scale, more tools are required for efficient aggregation of impact data and decision making. So what role does technology play in making real impact management feasible and how should enterprises identify appropriate technological solutions?

To effectively measure and manage social and environmental impact, numerous measurement methodologies mention engaging with stakeholders as a key practice. Although stakeholder engagement seems like a simple process, there is still a lack of adequate implementation. So how can we effectively engage with stakeholders and act upon the outcomes to improve operations while maximising the impact of our work?

Data, a key tool in the world of finance, yet often ignored in the scene of social impact management. But how to manage without measuring? Experts Lina and Pieter explain their views and share their tips on leveraging impact data.

Impact investing catches the imagination of people and organisations as the new source of hope in our collective ability to address the SDGs. To realise its true promise, we however need to double down on creating a level playing field for impact investors and create infrastructure for true impact accountability. 

3 key tips to reframe your perspective on social impact measurement and management, from our webinar “Maximising impact: from Rhetoric to Reality”.

Are you part of the growing group of people aiming to make organisations and the economy serve a greater purpose than wealth accumulation? Then much like us, you have probably wondered a thousand times what you could do better to make strides towards enabling that purpose. It is precisely with this mission in mind that Efiko Academy was born in September 2020.