INTERVIEW: Putting a price tag on a company’s social and environmental impact is the only way to demonstrate its true profit and loss, believes Sir Ronald Cohen, who is now focusing on driving forward the next accounting revolution.
INTERVIEW: Founded in 1990s eastern Europe, NESsT is still helping high-impact organisations to grow, and not rely on grants. We hear how it makes extra efforts to track its own impact – and how a new fund is tackling LGBTQIA+ discrimination.
Following record investments in 2021, deals are lower this year, Dealroom’s Impact Database reveals this week. Yet impact startups remain collectively valued at more than US$2tn and “impact unicorns” have reached 200.
INTERVIEW: As B Lab leads a "substantial revisit" of the criteria for companies seeking B Corp status, we ask the man who oversees these standards what will change – and if recent criticism of B Corp certifications is justified.
Company directors’ reliance on international accounting standards means sustainability issues are currently reported separately, if at all. But there are steps they can take to better meet their legal responsibilities, says our columnist.
As a woman of colour in social investment, Mathu Jeyaloganathan regularly finds her credibility questioned. As she fights to build a new fund for diverse communities, she urges white allies to help end the sector's institutional racism.
Social enterprise Elvis & Kresse has broken down barriers and changed perceptions within the field of fashion. We speak to co-founder Kresse Wesling about the business’s journey from an idea formed in landfill sites to today's success.
"Like the protagonist in this film, my parents experienced poverty, rejection and what felt like insurmountable obstacles when they came to the UK" – Social Value UK boss Isabelle Parasram OBE reveals the films, books and more that inspire her.
As the Diversity Forum launches a new, more robust manifesto, its chair Amir Rizwan urges social investors to not only pledge to take seriously their commitment to diversity and inclusion, but also to set goals and be accountable.
PLUS: BlueMark raises $3.75m; electronics repair unicorn BackMarket reaches $5.7bn valuation, and more: our regular impact finance bulletin brings you the latest funds, deals and programmes in the world of investing for good.
"While nothing is predictable in today’s world," says the British Asian Trust's Abha Thorat-Shah, outcome-based financing can be "the panacea that drives sustainable, systemic social change for common good".
The Commission on Social Investment’s “bold” recommendations call for £800m new money, a fresh strategy from government and a rethink of Big Society Capital.
In an exclusive interview, the chair of the Commission on Social Investment says his report’s recommendations can deliver ‘levelling up’ – but the UK government must get serious about social enterprise and social investment.
One of the UK’s first impact investment specialists, and once describing itself as “Europe’s leading impact investment bank”, ClearlySo went into administration at the end of 2021, owing more than £10m to creditors and shareholders.
