Exploring a Global ‘Local’ Approach to Impact Investment as a ProInspire Fellow
This is a guest post that Brint Markle, 2011 ProInspire Fellow, wrote for NextBillion.net.
After three great years as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, I decided to explore opportunities in impact investing. While at Bain, I helped start our first global social impact initiative, but felt I was still one step removed from ‘ground level’ impact. Last summer, I learned about the ProInspire Fellowship and discovered it would be a perfect way to increase my impact and develop as a socially-minded business leader. ProInspire is an innovative program that selects top performing young business professionals from leading banks, consulting firms, and corporations for a one-year fellowship at the intersection of business and the social sector. Each fellow is paired with a partner non-profit organization where they spend a full year in a meaningful role targeted to their experience.
ProInspire: Next Generation of Non-Profit Leadership
There are a few key aspects of the fellowship program make it exceptional. First, ProInpsire is defined by the fellowship cohort. All fellows gather regularly to share experiences, ‘crowd solve’ common challenges, and learn more about different segments of the social sector. Fellows come from a cross-section of the business world to serve leading organizations across the non-profit sector including, not only impact investing, but also international development, public health and education. Further, ProInspire has afforded all of us some wonderful opportunities to meet leaders in the field. We have heard from speakers at organizations such as Sustained Dialogue, the Management Center, and StrengthsFinder. Through networking events, we have also had the opportunity to meet inspiring leaders such as Lisa Hall, CEO of Calvert Foundation and Neil Bellefeuille, CEO of the Paradigm Project. The combination of training, mentoring, networking, and the cohort experience, makes ProInspire an ideal program for young professionals looking to increase their impact and leadership experience.
Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF): A Global Impact Investor You Should Get to Know
Through ProInspire I was hired as a business development manager at Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF). SEAF is an impact investor that accelerates the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in frontier markets, investing risk capital and providing business assistance that create development impact as well as financial returns. SEAF was founded more than 20 years ago in Eastern Europe, just as the international development community began to recognize the growing importance of market-based approaches to development after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since then, SEAF has grown rapidly, investing in more than 300 SMEs globally that span industries as diverse as agribusiness and clean technology. Today SEAF has roughly $370 million in assets under active management. This exciting growth as well as a dynamic, entrepreneurial culture brought me to SEAF. SEAF’s global track record, local frontier market expertise, and end-to-end entrepreneurial support really set it apart.
Read the rest of Brint’s post at http://www.nextbillion.net/blogpost.aspx?blogid=2669