I&P presents impact investing at UNIDO-WAIPA Training Programme for Investment Promotion Agencies

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/05/2018 - 12:01

Language English

Date: 23/02/2018

Agencies WAIPA (World Association of Investment Promotion) and UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) organized on February 20-22 an Executive Training Programme for Investment Promotion Agencies on the impact investing movement and its potential to drive new resources and new thinking to investment promotion stakeholders driving social change.

As part of its collaboration with UNIDO, I&P Conseil, a consulting firm dedicated to African SME and entrepreneurial ecosystem, was invited to lead a training session on impact investing during the programme. Cécile Carlier, Director of I&P Conseil, and Elodie Nocquet, ESG and Impact Director, animated the workshop.

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I&P Conseil led a customized awareness workshop on impact investing, inspired from its training “Introduction to Impact Investing”, first hold last October in Paris. Organized at the WAIPA Training Center, in Istanbul, more than 20 high-level participants from 17 selected IPAs from developing countries, mostly from Africa, worked in groups to discuss innovative approaches to investment promotion. IPAs play an important role in attracting investment, image building of FDI hosting country and improving business environment.

Different examples of impact funds were presented to the participants, in different areas of intervention (agriculture, access to energy, social development, low income services, inclusive finance…). A general introduction was also delivered to present the functioning of these funds, their mode of intervention, their recent structuring in network.

This category of investors is more willing to invest in "fragile" countries since in terms of social and / or environmental impact it is much more meaningful and therefore they represents more sustainable investors for the country.

On the theme "finding new solutions to old problems", in collaboration with UNIDO, Cécile Carlier, Managing Director of I&P Conseil and Elodie Nocquet, Impact Director of I&P, explained how impact investing can be a new development tool and how IPAs can capture such investments to address the financing gap of their country

For countries with fragile economies, the attraction of FDI remains a challenge, and their Investment Promotion Agencies often face several issues: difficult attraction of foreign investors due to a business climate perceived as "difficult"; inadequate budgets for promotion and limited steering tools of these same agencies; huge development challenges (social and environmental).

On the basis of exchanges between the different participants, several possible courses of action to capture this type of investor emerged:

• Project pipeline preparation (carried by local economic operators) for investors. Agencies should promote local projects with high potential impact that would meet the country's development goals.

• Investment readiness: preparing entrepreneurs and development agencies to understand why it may be relevant for a project holder to open up its capital to an investor. The aim above all will be to help them address their project to investors and strengthen their ability to negotiate. These awareness / training actions also facilitate the intervention of these investors.

• Support and preparation for the exit of investments. This is a key step for investors and entrepreneurs, which can be facilitated by networking with IPAs.

Following this joint initiative, UNIDO and I&P Conseil wish to reiterate this training with other investment promotion agencies and plan to develop it in a digital format. Some agencies also expressed the desire to work with I&P Conseil on investment readiness and impact investing training.

The training programme made the case for a new category of investors that is deeply committed to maximize economic, social and environmental impacts through their activity. It also enhanced the opportunity to attract them on these underserved markets that may appear too risky or not enough profitable and therefore fill the financing gap. The IPAs are now truly armed to favor and leverage this new investment category across foreign investments.

Discover the pictures of the training

About

The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) federates numerous Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) around the world and, as such, helps to spread good practice between agencies, runs the network and organizes training tailored to their needs with a focus on methodological and technical innovations. WAIPA brings together 170 members from 130 different countries.