And Another Definition of Impact Investing
Impact investing must be differentiated from ESG investing, argues FT contributor Wendy Abt, founder of WPA and a board director of Innovations for Poverty Action. An impact investment should only be defined by two characteristics: Its ability to positively impact on the lives of poor people and the ability of a company to make a risk adjusted return, she argues. “A clear line between ESG and true impact investing is important because products that have a direct impact on poverty are rare, plus the investments are unusually illiquid, volatile, and require lots of long-term capital.” ESG investing, she says, “does not operate under these constraints.”
Bill McGarvey
Bill McGarvey
co-founder
Entrepreneur, award-winning writer, editor and artist, Bill McGarvey has written on art, culture, politics and religion and has been featured in/written for The Washington Post, NPR, BBC, the New York Times, Time Out New York, The Tablet (London), Commonweal, Factual (Spain) and Book. He co-authored The Freshman Survival Guide published by the Hachette Book Group USA that has sold over 130,000 copies to date and was featured on The Late Show with David Letterman.