The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment to engage top African leaders at Accra Impact Dialogue
Accra, Ghana, Dec 3, 2018: The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG), in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), on Thursday 6th December is convening the inaugural Ghana Impact Dialogue in Accra to support the country’s impact investment community establish a National Advisory Board (NAB).
Finance Minister Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta will make a special keynote speech to delegates attending the Dialogue, which follows the 5th December 2018 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Investment Fair, organized by Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre in collaboration with the SDG Advisory Unit at the Presidency on the 5th.
Amit Bhatia, GSG CEO, said: “GSG aims to harness the power of impact investment to unlock private capital for public good at scale to achieve the UN SDGs. Impact investment optimizes risk, return and impact to benefit people and the planet, by setting specific social and environmental objectives alongside financial returns.”
A recent KPMG Report shows that annual impact investments in Africa & Middle East have grown from $3.9 billion in 2016 to $7.1 billion in 2017, while the beneficiaries have increased from 79 million to 103 million over the same period.
Sir Ronald Cohen, GSG Founder and Chair, said: “This meeting comes at a very opportune time, as the world awakens to the fact that this revolutionary impact movement is about to reach a tipping point. With $22 trillion flowing in responsible, sustainable and impact Investment, we are on the path to creating the impact economies of the future.”
The Dialogue’s speakers and panelists include Amel Karboul (Former Tourism Minister of Tunisia and CEO of the Education Outcomes Fund for Africa and the Middle East), Yofi Grant (CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre), Gita Honwana Welch (Country Director, UNDP, Ghana), Yaw Owusu-Brempong (CEO, Ghana Venture Capital Trust Fund), Jihane Hakimi, (Blended Finance Specialist, Africa Development Bank), and Dr. Shannon May (Co-Founder & CSO of Bridge International Academies).
Thanks to support from DFID, GSG is working actively in Ghana to develop a National Advisory Board (NAB) for Impact Investment.
“A NAB is a vanguard for impact investment and serves as a national platform for private, public, and civil society actors to work together to create an enabling environment for impact investing, “ said Mr. Bhatia, who will kick off the Dialogue with the theme address on the global impact movement.
On October 25th, South Africa launched its NAB and task forces are being set up in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia by local stakeholder groups to works towards the establishment of NABs.
GSG is convening the Kenya Impact Dialogue in Nairobi on Monday 10th December.
FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE IMPACT DIALOGUE, PLEASE CLICK HERE
TAKE A 2-MINUTE TOUR OF AFRICA BY WATCHING OUR VIDEO HERE
CONTACTS
For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact:
Oliver Wagg, Communications Advisor, GSG: oliver.wagg@gsgii.org
+44 7885 377264 (WhatsApp available)
For media passes and in-country inquiries, please contact:
Kwesi Koomson, Communications and Research Consultant: kwesikoomson7@gmail.com
+233 (0) 20 106 73 86; Skype kwesi.koomson7
ABOUT THE GSG
- The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) is an independent global steering group catalysing impact investment and entrepreneurship to benefit people and the planet. The GSG was established in August 2015 as the successor to, and incorporating the work of, the Social Impact Investment Taskforce under the UK presidency of the G8. The GSG currently represents National Advisory Boards in 21 countries plus the EU as members. Chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen, the GSG brings together leaders from finance, business and philanthropy to ensure measurable impact is considered in every investment and business decision. Our mission is to harness the energy behind Impact Investment to deliver impact at scale.
- Global impact investments, defined as those that both intend to create impact and measure the impact created, reached $268 billion in 2017, touching 507 million lives. By 2020, they are expected to amount to about $500 billion and to touch more than 1 billion lives.
- On Impact: A Guide to the Impact Revolution sets out the role institutional investors, philanthropists, financial intermediaries and entrepreneurs can play in the impact movement. You can download a free copy at www.onimpactnow.org and engage with us on this website to share your views.