60+ High Impact Businesses and Impact Investment Intermediaries attended Nexii’s first Impact Capital Raising Workshops in Nairobi and Johannesburg
High impact businesses and impact investment funds joined intermediaries and specialists providing impact, corporate finance and legal due diligence support services at the first impact capital raising workshops hosted by Nexii’s Tamzin Ractliffe and Justine Raschio at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on November 15th and The Forum, Johannesburg on November 16th 2011.
Amidst vibrant discussion and engagement, attendees also heard from Luis Hernandez of USAID, Andreas Zeller and Annie Roberts from Open Capital Advisors (the first accredited Authorized Impact Representatives in East Africa), Olivia Muiru from GIIRS (the Global Impact Investment Rating System) and Carlo Chege of the East African Social Enterprise Network, about how they can engage private and public capital to deliver their impact missions.
The features of the public Impact Exchange Board (iX) as well as Nexii’s Impact Capital Platform (iC) for unlisted private placements were described at length to demonstrate the ability to provide visibility, mission assurance and access to global impact capital markets.
Nexii’s listing requirements, the contribution of related compliance controls and services such as the GIIRS rating system and the role of Impact Representatives were well received and regarded as core components in the process of building credibility and providing assurances based on accountability and transparency overall.
Importantly Nexii’s platforms and focus on intermediary development were seen to be key to providing the framework around which better coordination and cohesion could be established – essential if the impact investment sector is to mature and become consistent and comparable across investment options and between regions.
In essence, the workshops brought to the table key players in the ecosystem, demonstrated that the goals are set, the referees are present, and the time is right for high impact businesses to engage more visibly in providing clear and measurable value propositions to investors.
Through feedback and discussion with attendees, Nexii learned of increasing interest for the development of social impact bonds and aggregate funds to enhance and augment the impact of likeminded impact businesses and pool resources to raise greater amounts of capital. The need for incubator-like services for the high impact business in corporate finance, legal, and impact consultation was also highlighted as critical stepping stone for businesses to look to list on Nexii platform. Nexii’s relationship with Trustlaw and the Thomson Reuters Foundation will provide important support in this regard as businesses seek better understanding of, and determination in setting the terms governing investment in their work.
Future Impact Capital Raising Workshops and related information sessions to enable high impact businesses to benefit from Nexii’s platforms are in planning for early 2012 both in webinar format and in face to face engagement in various regions across the world and should be published on the Nexii website by end December 2011.
The Impact Capital Raising Workshops are an open invitation to social and/or environmental enterprises or impact investment funds looking to raise capital; to intermediaries providing important advisory, due diligence, impact assessment or corporate finance support services and to development finance institutions and government departments focused on development issues.
If you are interested in attending, presenting at or hosting an Impact Capital Raising Workshop, please email Elizabeth Pretorius at elizabeth@nexii.com or Justine Raschio at Justine@nexii.com with further details.
“A very informative workshop and a good networking opportunity” – Charlene Chen, Kickstart.
