The United Nations Social Impact Fund has launched an impact fund comprising grant and equity capital with the aim of developing emerging economies in the Asian market.
The fund of more than US$200 million is made up of a majority of equity with some concessional funding, David Galipeau, chief of the UN Social Impact Fund, said today at the Impact Investing Forum in London.
In addition to the fund’s investments in social impact projects in Asia, its goal is to provide technical assistance to developing countries in the region. Galipeau said the fund’s “large network of investors” reflects the opportunities for impact investment in Asia, which he described as “a very opportunistic market”.
“The Asian market is a very disaggregated market, and disggregation creates gaps, which only creates opportunities,” he said
The UN Social Impact Fund is working with China, a market typically “either for-profit or no-profit”, to enable financing which ensures social as well as economic returns.
Speaking on the importance of social finance to achieving the SDGs by the UN’s target year of 2030, Galipeau said the shift from legacy wealth in the West, to newly created wealth in the East, means Asian investors are open to new ways of approaching investment.
“They [the investors] are very concerned about the second generation of wealth in Asia, and how they are going to become responsible investors,” he said
The UN Social Impact Fund is one of four institutions that make up the Sustainable Finance Collective Asia. The other three institutions are Credit Suisse, FMO, and ING. The group evaluates proposals for sustainable impact projects in Asia of US$5 million to US$15 million and up, and which, crucially, are aligned with the SDGs.