The Impact World this Week: 24 September 2026

UK: PM receives social enterprise socks at UN general assembly in New York

Andy Burnham, the UK prime minister, met social entrepreneur Josh Turner to discuss homelessness, during his trip to New York for the UN general assembly. Turner founded Stand4 Socks, which donates a pair of antibacterial socks to someone who is homeless for every pair it sells, was launched in Manchester in the UK, and expanded to the US in 2022. The meeting took place in Central Park, where Turner presented Burnham with a pair of socks featuring the prime minister’s face, commissioned by Social Enterprise UK and designed by Manchester artist Stanley Chow. The Manchester Evening News reported that Burnham praised the model of social entrepreneurship, saying: “You get on and you give back.”

• Read more: Homelessness emerges as high-impact area for social investors in new research from Better Society Capital

Europe: Report calls for clearer recognition of impact-driven businesses across the bloc

A clearer recognition of impact-driven businesses at EU level is needed to enable supportive policy development for the sector, according to a new report. The ‘exploratory study’ was commissioned by DG GROW, the EU directorate for the internal market, to analyse the current landscape for impact-driven businesses and possible future policy approaches, and was produced by consultancy WYG. The study uses the phrase “impact-driven business” as an umbrella term for commercially operating enterprises that intentionally embed positive social and/or environmental objectives within their core business model – from social enterprises to B Corps and entreprises à mission. 

Based on desk research, interviews and a survey of nearly 250 stakeholders, the 238-page report found that a lack of agreed EU-wide definition and a fragmented regulatory environment across the different member states were a major challenge, making it difficult to assess the size of the sector or to implement policies to support it, while access to procurement contracts and finance are also mentioned as important barriers by survey respondents. The report recommends creating a non-binding, EU-wide definition – in the shape of a “reference framework” – and a knowledge exchange platform. Two-thirds of survey respondents also backed the idea of an EU-level label or status. The authors suggest that the proposed “EU Inc.” status – an EU-wide legal form for companies, currently being examined in parliament – could be an opportunity to implement this agenda.

• Read more: Will you be able to mission-lock your company under the new ‘EU Inc.’ regime?

Europe: AI-powered dashboard maps who is putting money into impact across the continent

A new AI-powered data dashboard to map impact investment across Europe was launched by Impact Europe last week. Social Investment in Action Europe (SIAE), built in partnership with Impact Intelligence, scans news, reports and open data, then maps the activities, capital flows and key actors witin the Impact Europe community. The data is refreshed every month, and covers all Impact Europe member organisations. Users can filter the data by social cause, SDG, beneficiary group, country, month or organisation, and see the indicative financial support behind each activity. Access to the platform is free for Impact Europe members and costs €1,500 per year for non-members. 

Global: Global gender parity still 120 years away, finds World Economic Forum’s 20th Global Gender Gap report

Global gender parity is 120 years away, and the global gender gap closed by just 0.4 percentage points in 2026 (from 68.8% in 2025 to 69.2% in 2026). Those are the findings of the World Economic Forum’s  20th annual Global Gender Gap report, published last week. The report benchmarks progress towards gender parity across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Among the constant sample of 97 economies since the first edition in 2006, gender parity has improved by just 5.2 percentage points. 

• Read more: Investing in a brighter future for women and girls: Why Asia’s social investors are taking urgent action to close the gender gap

Latin America: Inter-American Development Bank invests US$1m in Amazonia Impact Ventures to tackle financing gap in Amazon

IDB Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, has invested US$1m in Amazonia Impact Ventures’ (AIV) blended debt fund. The investment will form part of the catalytic tranche of AIV's blended debt fund, and will be matched by US$1.26m from AIV. Over a three-year period, the initiative is expected to enable 24 impact-linked loans for community-based and Indigenous companies, SMEs and cooperatives operating in Amazonian value chains. Through this investment, IDB Lab intends to help expand access to finance and encourage the use of impact-linked financing models across the Amazon in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. IDB Lab will also provide AIV with technical assistance to strengthen its impact management and measurement framework, supporting the development of data collection tools, verification processes and impact reporting.

• Read more: ‘Once you’ve travelled to Manaus, you’re committed’ – Latimpacto’s fifth annual conference opens in Brazil’s Amazonian centre

UK: British International Investment launches Gender and Inclusive Finance Toolkit

British International Investment, the UK's development finance institution, launched a refreshed Gender and Inclusive Finance Toolkit at the 2X Global Summit in Montréal, held last week. The toolkit is designed to help fund managers, investors and businesses embed a gender lens across the investment lifecycle. It brings together tools for different stages of the investment process, case studies from BII’s portfolio, and an inclusive business section for portfolio companies. At the summit, BII reaffirmed its commitment to the 2X Challenge, a global initiative launched by G7 development finance institutions to mobilise capital for women's economic empowerment in developing markets. BII’s 2026-31 strategy, launched earlier this year, sets the goal of 30% of new investments in its core portfolio to qualify under the 2X Challenge. 

Scotland: Social Investment Scotland invested ​​£46m in 178 organisations in 2025/26

Social Investment Scotland (SIS), supported 178 social enterprises, charities, community groups and mission-led organisations through £46.3m of loans and investments over the past year, according to its 2025/26 impact report. Those figures are lower than in the previous reporting period, when SIS invested £52.5m in 216 organisations. SIS said the drop is largely due to the full repayment and closure of a number of investments and funds made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Covering the period April 2025 to March 2026, the latest report shows SIS funding reached 4.5m people across Scotland, the UK and beyond through its investees. SIS investees delivered a wide range of outcomes for people and communities across that period, including 46 employment, training and education programmes, 17 environmental sustainability initiatives, 17 income and financial inclusion initiatives, and 11 housing and community infrastructure projects. Around one-third (33%) of investees were based in areas within the 35% most deprived in Scotland, while 23% operate in rural or island communities, places often underserved by traditional finance.

• Read more: Scotland’s forthcoming social economy strategy must be backed by funds and ‘bold new ideas’

Movers and Shakers

Daniela Barone Soares has been appointed chair designate of Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. Soares has more than two decades of experience spanning impact investing, philanthropy and business. She will succeed Nick Hurd, who will step down at the end of September after six years in the role. One of Soares’ first priorities as chair will be to lead the recruitment of a permanent chief executive. 

Top image: (l to r) UK prime minister Andy Burnham met social enterprise founder Josh Turner in New York's Central Park to discuss homelessness (credit: 10 Downing Street)