The Project
The Initiative for Blended Finance (IBF) is a part of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich and acts as a global knowledge hub for the practical and effective application of blended and innovative finance for sustainable development. In this project, the IBF partnered with the Bertha Centre at the UCT Graduate School of Business, a center dedicated to advancing social innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as Roots of Impact, a specialized advisory firm dedicated to making finance work for positive impact on people and planet. The research consortium sought to learn more from the perspective of entrepreneurs as the “consumers” of catalytic capital. This project was designed to better identify and understand the value that entrepreneurs in the Global South find in catalytic structures and how these structures might be improved to better meet their needs for creating positive impact at scale. The project combined a literature review, structured interviews with innovative finance experts, and deeper discussion with 25 impact entrepreneurs across sectors and regions to generate insights.
Value and Outcomes
Focusing on the entrepreneurs’ experience and needs with respect to catalytic capital is a distinctive contribution to evidence-based learning for the field, as catalytic capital research often tends to focus on the experiences, motivations, and lessons learned at the investor side of the equation. Analysis has been published in various position papers, journal articles and blogs, as well as presented at conferences for practitioners and investors.
For more information on the Initiative for Blended Finance, visit their website. To learn more about the Bertha Centre, visit their website. And for more information on Roots of Impact, visit their website.