Scaling Impact Capital Podcast Kusisami Hornberger

A conversation with Arsalan Mahtafar, Head of J.P. Morgan Development Finance Institution. In this episode, Arsalan explains why J.P. Morgan started a Development Finance Institution, their unique approach to investing, and how they think about, measure and manage impact. We also delve into why it is important to differentiate intentional impact-first investing from ESG investing strategies. Additionally, we discuss as why it is important to create impact measurement and management standards and what he is doing with the impact disclosures taskforce to advance that objective. Finally, Arsalan shares his perspectives on how the impact investing landscape will continue to evolve over the coming years.   

A conversation with Daniel Izzo, CEO and Co-Founder of VOX Capital. In this episode, Daniel shares why and how he started VOX Capital, a pioneering impact investment fund based in Brazil.  Daniel also shares his perspectives on why a traditional venture capital approach didn’t work for the types of social enterprises that they sought to support, his view on the continuum of capital and how VOX provides support to entrepreneurs beyond providing capital alone.  We also discuss why funds like VOX are needed now more than ever and advice he has for social entrepreneurs on how to find a capital provider that is a good fit with impact and business goals. 

A conversation with Tilman Ehrbeck, Managing Partner with Flourish. In this episode, Tilman shares his journey from journalism to venture investing with Omidyar Network and why he decided to found Flourish with a vision to back entrepreneurs working to build a fair financial system. We also discuss the critical importance of seeking financial health versus access to finance, the impact of fintech in emerging markets as well as the potential of generative AI in transforming financial services for the poor.

In this episode, Hunt Allcott, Professor of Global Environmental Policy at Stanford University, shares the learnings from his research on economic approaches to measuring social impact of companies’ business activities. In the episode we explore what motivated him to investigate this topic, his unique approach to measuring impact using positive and negative externalities of enterprise activity in dollar terms as well as the surprising findings from applying this novel approach to 74 firms across 12 industries. We also discuss what Hunt believes might be the implications of his research on monetization of impact and its potential integration into social and financial performance metrics as well as what that could mean for impact investing practitioners moving forward.

A conversation with Rebecca Harrison, CEO and Co-Founder at African Management Institute (AMI). In this episode, Rebecca shares insights on why and how she started a business to provide #capacitybuilding services to African small businesses and #entrepreneurs. She also shares insights on different types of capacity-building services and which ones have proven to be most effective, as well as the role she believes these services can play in supporting more women-led or owned businesses to succeed.

A conversation with Maya Ziswiller, CEO at the UBS Optimus Foundation, about its results-based approach to philanthropy. In our discussion, Maya shares more about UBS pioneering early investments in outcomes-based finance and why it has recently become more active in using blended finance to finance projects in climate adaptation and mitigation. During our conversation, we also discuss Maya’s career journey and her advice to other foundation leadership teams interested in being more active in blended finance and outcome-based finance approaches.