Impact Investing Powers Up East African Economies

In the last three weeks of July, some $15 billion deserted emerging-markets equity funds, thanks to tumbling commodities prices and uncertainty surrounding the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate bump. This extends a two-year exodus from the asset class. Yet some areas appear ripe for growth.

随着投资者寻找新的方式在发展中经济体中产生健康的回报，许多人正在转向影响投资，从而旨在产生金融收益和有形的社会和经济效益。撒哈拉以南非洲，享有发展亚洲发展落后的第二次增长率，正在吸引很多钱。

Some of the continent’s fastest-growing economies are in East Africa. That strength has led global impact investors from around the world to channel $9.3 billion over the past five years into the region, according toThe Landscape for Impact Investing in East Africa, a report released July 28 and compiled by the全球影响投资网络（GIIN）, a New York–based nonprofit committed to boosting the effectiveness of impact investing, and Nairobi-based consulting firm Open Capital Advisors. In 2015 the International Monetary Fund forecasts gross domestic product to grow by 8.6 percent in Ethiopia, 7.2 percent in Tanzania and 6.5 percent in both Kenya and Rwanda, despite subdued global growth.

“整体而言，大陆，特别是东非，已经看到了很多影响投资，因为机会在那里，”奥克山，弗吉尼亚州的战略咨询公司市场地图集地球赛地图集。资本承诺的涌入有助于改善该地区许多国家的电力，运输和卫生的机会。

The region’s people are also a big draw, says Abhilash Mudaliar, research manager at GIIN and a member of the report’s advisory team. “The demographics, with the booming middle class, are attractive because they suggest longer-term growth opportunities,” he notes. Demographics in the region skew young; roughly 75 percent of the population in Kenya is under the age of 30. This next generation harbors an entrepreneurial ethos, says Sawyerr, which is prompting young people to start businesses that create a lot of opportunity for social impact investing.

Impact investing in frontier markets works when most elements of the investment ecosystem are available, says Graham Sinclair, principal of Sustainable Investment Consulting in Boston. East Africa is pitching itself as a hub. “East Africa has the blend of demand from interested investors and funders, a supply of entrepreneurs and fund managers seeking to deploy capital, and the milieu of skills from nongovernmental organizations and international organizations using Nairobi as a base, including the U.N. Environment Programme and the International Finance Corp. [IFC],” he says.

“What we’ve tried to do with this report is map the nature of impact investors’ activity in East Africa, at a country level, to understand the historic activity as well as think more deeply about future opportunities in the region,” says GIIN’s Mudaliar.

由于其双重底线，影响投资对经济发展至关重要，针对金融，健康，能源和教育部门的财务和社会福利，占据了财务和社会效益。这一前面最着名的投资者是发展金融机构，或者DFIS：政府资助和支持的实体，投资于环境和社会目标的私营部门发展。据该地区称，美国国际发展（美国海方）和非洲开发银行集团（非洲开发银行集团）和非洲开发银行集团提供大约85％的影响资金，据Landscape研究。“没有单一因素制定了更多的是在东非的影响投资部门塑造而不是DFI资本进入影响基金的流动，”GIIN报告说明。

On his recent trip to Kenya and Ethiopia,总统巴拉克奥巴马promoted thePower Africa倡议。由美国国际开发署我n 2013 in collaboration with other organizations, Power Africa is tasked with helping African countries meet their national energy needs by using private assets to finance, insure and build energy infrastructure, promote policy and regulatory reforms and foster local capacity building. Energy is the second-largest sector behind financial services in terms of how much capital is being deployed, according to theLandscape研究。

Of the 11 countries in the region, Kenya is a clear favorite among impact investors, thanks in part to its rapid growth and human capital. The country has been the beneficiary of more than $3.65 billion, or about 40 percent, of the impact capital allocated to East Africa, whereas the favorable business environment in Uganda’s and Tanzania’s large markets have together attracted a quarter of the region’s impact capital.

“内罗毕一直是该地区的历史业务和经济中心，”Mudaliar说。“投资者来自外面的投资者是一个自然的起点。”现有的城市投资者网络鼓励新的资本，因为新人可以利用附近的其他50个影响企业和投币式经营办公室的服务，Mudaliar补充道。

“在援助之后，贸易，”可持续投资咨询的辛克莱说。“现在驱动器是影响投资。”

Follow Georgie Hurst on Twitter at@ghurst_iimag..

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