AVPA and AVPN (our Asia sister network) in collaboration with Faculty from the Oxford Saïd Business School are proud to announce the inaugural Africa-Asia Impact Investing Fellowship programme to nurture asset owners and capital managers into becoming effective impact investing practitioners. Leveraging strong networks in Africa and Asia, this Fellowship will build the capacity and knowledge of fellows in areas such as innovative finance, impact management, and leadership in complexity. The Fellowship aims to ultimately increase the flow of social investment capital into Africa and Asia.
The Fellowship will select 30 individuals in Asia and 30 individuals in Africa who embody the values and skills needed to develop a strong impact investing sector. It will then work with these Fellows to build their capacity to ensure that they have the right information and resources, knowledge, and insight on how to build an impact strategy, manage a portfolio, define, evaluate and manage impact, among other skills.
Impact investing is at its nascent stage in Asia and Africa. Although it is now getting an increasing level of attention from various actors in the social investment ecosystem, there are only a handful of impact funds and foundations that are actually practicing impact investing. The obstacles that are hindering impact investing from gaining traction in Asia and Africa amongst wealth holders, asset managers and their advisors include the perception that it will necessitate a trade-off on financial returns, a lack of an investment-ready pipeline, inexperience in managing a portfolio, and the complexities in defining and evaluating impact measurement.
The Fellows will consist of Private Equity and Venture Capital Fund managers, Foundation Directors, Family Office Principals/Directors, NextGen Leaders, Incubators and Accelerators; those who have access to significant capital, or have responsibility for large investment portfolios and are used to managing assets of High Net Worth Individuals, families or funds. These individuals are either deploying or intend to deploy capital with an impact investing lens.
Please register your interest by filling this form. Applications close on 12 August 2021. The Fellowship costs USD 975 for Fellows based in Asia and USD 1275 for Fellows based in Africa to be paid in full upon acceptance.
To learn more about the Fellowship and how to submit an application, please visit: https://avpa.africa/africa-asia-impact-investing-fellowship/
