Matt Davis and the Impact of Entrepreneurship, Perseverance and Investing in Ethiopia
Release Date: 02/11/2016
The Impact Investing Podcast
Rehana and I have a wide ranging conversation, but dig in deep on the Case Foundations newest project, the Impact Investing Network Map. Fueled with publically available data, it's the first attempt to put all of the data around impact deals into one visual tool.
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For the past several years, John has been Director of Impact Capital at Santa Clara’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and has also been a mentor to social entrepreneurs at the Global Social Benefit Accelerator. In 2011 he authored a report on impact investing entitled Coordinating Impact Capital: a New Approach to Investing in Small and Growing Businesses and recently co-authored a chapter on equity investing in New Frontiers of Philanthropy (Oxford Press-2014). He is now pioneering a new investment vehicle – the Demand Dividend - that presents investors with a...
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Kusi joined Global Partnerships June 2015. He is responsible for identifying and researching social impact and financial return potential of new investment initiatives, refining existing investment initiatives as well defining GP’s overall investment strategy. He also GP’s lead for agriculture and health sectors. Prior to joining GP, Kusi worked three years as a management consultant for Bain & Company in South America and five years as an Investment Officer for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In both roles he has...
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Mark Horoszowski is co-founder and CEO of , a global platform that helps people volunteer their expertise with social impact organizations around the world, on their own or through corporate-sponsored programs. Since its launch in 2011, MovingWorlds.org has already helped unleash over 5 million dollars worth of professional skills to social enterprises around the world and is the originator of the term, . Mark holds a Master's in Accounting and a BA in Business from the University of Washington, serves as a volunteer co-chairing the American Cancer Society's National Volunteer Leadership Team,...
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Jean Case is the CEO of the Case Foundation and Chair of The National Geographic Society Board of Trustees. Currently an actively engaged philanthropist, investor and pioneer in the world of interactive technologies, her career in the private sector spanned nearly two decades before she and her husband, Steve Case, created the in 1997. A passionate believer in all things digital and the amazing potential of technology to change the world for the better, the Case Foundation is recognized for its innovative efforts to address significant social challenges, harnessing the best impulses of...
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Songbae Lee is a Senior Investment Officer at the Calvert Foundation, which is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), connecting individual investors with organizations working around the globe, developing affordable housing, creating jobs, protecting the environment, and working in numerous other ways for the social good. Maybe the coolest part of Calvert Foundation is their community investment note run through Vested.org - an investment vehicle open to anyone in the world with just $20. The investment is applied to Community Development Partners working with Calvert to lend...
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Clara Miller is President of the Heron Foundation, which helps people and communities help themselves out of poverty. Prior to assuming the foundation’s presidency, Miller was President and CEO of Nonprofit Finance Fund which she founded and ran from 1984 through 2010. In addition to serving on Heron's board, Miller is on the boards of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and she is a member of the U.S. Advisory Committee to the G8 on Impact investing, named in 2014. From 2010-2014 Miller was a member of the first Nonprofit Advisory Committee of the Financial Accounting...
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This Podcast is sponsored by Maine Startup and Create Week. This years conference is June 20th to 26th in Portand, ME and is going to be amazing! This year’s conference is focused on design and innovation. They’re bringing in some of the best minds to discuss and teach how entrepreneurs can use the skills that accompany great design and design thinking to help build better companies, products and solutions to the world's most pressing problems? Panels will cover topics ranging from a mixture of Biotech, Agricultural tech and innovation and environmental technology to health-care,...
info_outlineMatt Davis is the Founder and Partner of RENEW - an impact investment and advisory firm that manages and serves the Impact Angel Network, which is a global network of investors who seek to make both social impact and financial returns on their investments in Africa. RENEW’s largest office is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
RENEW likes to invest in companies within the “missing middle” space. Companies that are too big for traditional seed stage investing, but too small for bank loans or traditional financing. The company focuses on Individual investments of $100K - $3M for expansion/growth capital in high growth, domestic firms, with a full exit in 3-7 years via a management buyback; target IRR greater than 25%.
RENEW reduces the costs and risks of investing in developing and emerging countries by partnering with the development community, having a dedicated presence on the ground, managing an exceptional local network, using innovative structures and investment instruments, and providing hands-on consulting to their investments.
Matt has extensive experience working with U.S. and African government leaders and facilitating international business investments. He has traveled and lived in Africa and Latin America. As a management consultant he has advised large U.S. corporations, U.S. government leaders, African governments and African businesses. He specializes in strategic planning, and designing and implementing international investment strategies. Prior to founding RENEW LLC, Matt worked as a principal consultant at the Touchstone Consulting Group, a strategy and management consulting firm for the U.S. government. He has advised executives and government leaders on strategies for environmental sustainability, international development, health policy, information technology, and finance.
Matt's story is one of perseverance, recognizing opportunity and investing in areas that others are overlooking. If you have any dreams or desires of ever starting your own impact investing firm, or making angel investments to develop essential companies in third world countries, this is an episode for you.