A couple of months ago I got a call from a consultant for me to share my experience on social innovation. Four days later I was on a airplane to the Middle East to speak to about 150 corporate and government stakeholders on social investment.
I had prepared my slides before travelling, but a day before the talk, I got worried whether I was on point. I mean, these were corporate finance people who have been invited by their government to look at social investment in a serious way. Should I angle the talk on investing or on impact? That night I frantically reworked my slides as best I can based on what I think the audience would like to know.
So I changed things. Basically, I put it this way – make a case for impact first. Then if the investor understands impact, they will appreciate both the financial and social returns they are getting. I think they will.
At the end of it I told the funders and investors, that there are three ways to go about investing for impact.
One, they can invest in impact projects where the government provides backing. This is particularly relevant for complex social issues that are difficult to monetise (for example, mental health issues, drug-use issues, etc.)
Two, they can invest in projects that provide both financial and social returns. This works for projects that have investible products and services that are sustainable (for example, education programmes, energy projects, building homes or water and sanitation, etc.)
Three, they can themselves commission projects that are aligned with their own corporate vales and priorities. Or they can pool resources with other funders and investors on these projects (for example, creating jobs or economic opportunities that serves a relevant customer base, etc.)
Social investment is the input that goes to output interventions, that lead to outcomes and impact.
The point is, we need to align the output, outcome and impact with the values of the people who provide the input, which are the resources that funders, investors and commissioners provide.
I hope the way I way I presented social investment made sense to them. I didn’t just want to tell them how it works, but why and how it would work for them. If you are presenting on a similar topic you should approach it this way and help them formulate their own thinking based on the ideas you
present.
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