Wednesday, 21st September 2016, Bern
This Savings & Credit Forum was organized by SDC in partnership with Ashoka - the largest network of social entrepreneurs and Obviam, manager of the SIFEM, the Swiss development Finance Institution. We looked at the topic of blended finance (also called hybrid finance by Ashoka) for social entrepreneurs and how to bridge the gap between public sector/ philanthropy and social impactor investors and investees.
The conference gathered several speakers among which Markus Freiburg from the Financing Agency for Social Entrepreneurship (FASE) and Björn Strüwer from Roots of Impact who presented the ecosystem of blended finance and the different solutions already existing enabling investors to invest in social entrepreneurs and business. Andrea Coleman, a successful social entrepreneur from the Ashoka network presented how she had developed a blended business model and how it helped the scaling of its impact. In the afternoon, we broke down in groups to go a step further, and collectively identify how we can each contribute to filling the gap of blended financing.
List of references (download)
Presentations:
Presentation on blended finance in the social enterprise "Riders for Health"
Andrea Coleman, Founder of Riders for Health and Ashoka fellow
Introduction to blended finance for social entrepreneurs and social business
Björn Strüwer (Roots of Impact) and
Markus Freiburg, Financing Agency for Social Entrepreneurship (FASE)
Inputs to the Groups:
Structured funds, with Klaus Maurer (Finance in Motion) and Christoper Achini (Obviam)
Pay for Success, with Björn Strüwer and Rory Tews (Roots for Impact)
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Follow-up Event:
Are you interested in participating in the panel discussion and pitching session that Ashoka is organizing?
date: Thursday, 22nd September 2016 / 18.15- 19.45
where: Geneva
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