Chandula to speak at Fireside Chat at Uniterra Social Impact Investing Forum in Ghana

• Building ecosystems for impact investing
  
   

Chandula Abeywickrema, the Chairman Lanka Impact Investing Network Ltd. (LIIN), Sri Lanka’s pioneering impact investing fund and the co-founder Ath Pavura is one of the key speakers at the Uniterra Social Impact Investing Forum that would be held in Accra, Ghana from 17 to 18 June. At the Fireside Chat Chandula will enlighten the delegates from Africa on the work and thoughts around building ecosystems for impact investing in transitioning economies. 

Delegates will gain better insights on some of the challenges and opportunities that exist for social enterprises actors trying to access capital within this space. It shall also reflect on the role of government in facilitating private sector engagement in this ecosystem. 

The two-day forum will explore the opportunities and challenges in both supply and demand side aspects to impact investing, the role of NGOs in linking social entrepreneurs to impact investing opportunities with insights from the Uniterra program experiences in Malawi and Ghana, promoting dialogue on the space for gender lens investing within the impact investment ecosystem in the region, and areas to facilitate the development exchanges among social entrepreneurs and investors in opportunities for impact investing – with a focus on gender lens investments.

The Ghana Forum will bring together key African stakeholders to understand emerging initiatives in social impact investments to benefit Africa. According to Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, social impact investing are investments made with the primary intention of creating a measurable social impact with the potential for some financial upside. Such investments place capital in businesses that are designed to provide scalable solutions to a number of global problems. 

Impact investing in West Africa is small but growing, and more than half of all impact capital deployed in the region is in Nigeria and Ghana. With an increasing focus by many African nations on trade and a declining flow of traditional donor funds, there is a strong need for the financing gap for socially motivated and economically viable initiatives to be filled through other forms of investments. Mobilising structured private sector funds or other forms of conventional capital for investment in social enterprises, still remains a major difficulty for many social entrepreneurs. 

On the other hand, impact investors struggle to identify viable social enterprises to invest that can guarantee a return on investments. This workshop will help to create a space for understanding both supply and demand side challenges and opportunities for impact investing in the region. It will also explore the role which civil society organisations can play in bridging the gaps in access between social entrepreneurs and impact investors.