“We don’t only need more impact investing, but better impact investing.”
These were the words of one of our members’ representatives during the very first members’ meeting of the NAB, which took place at the ImpactFest 2021, hosted by ImpactCity in the Fokker Terminal, on the 4TH of November.
During the meeting, the progress of the NAB, during its first 11 months of activity, was presented to the members, and targets were set for 2022. The NAB announced the soon-to-launch working group on Capital Requirements. This working group has the ambition to be a catalyst to influence regulations that are a hurdle to scale up impact investing.
“If we can demonstrate that capital charges are not in line with capital risk. Maybe we can make a change.”
– Yvonne Bakkum, FMO
Additionally, the question “Why should financial investors join the NAB?” was addressed. The discussion highlighted the value proposition of the NAB: established to catalyze impact investing in the Netherlands, complementing the work of other platforms and networks, focusing on Dutch stakeholders, engaging with the public sector, acting as the voice of the sector, and connecting practitioners.
The members also demonstrated great enthusiasm regarding the current study on the state of Dutch Impact Investing Sector. The NAB hosted another session, together with EVPA, as part of the ImpactFest Programme. The session was an interactive round table discussing and challenging the preliminary findings of the study:
89% of the respondents declared having a team allocated to impact investing.
The top 3 SDGs engaged in by financial investors are SDG7 “Affordable and Clean Energy”, SDG8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” and SDG13 “Climate Action”.
The biggest perceived barrier to engaging in Impact Investing is “Measurement of Impact”.
With a room filled with impact investors and impact-driven people, interesting analysis and discussion on these findings took place.
“This room is filled with Impact Investors. I think that the opportunities outweigh the barriers, otherwise we would not all be here”
This was the answer to the question “Are there more opportunities or barriers to impact investing?” reflecting the passion and motivation of impact investing and the focus on the greater good.
Another interesting point of discussion was the curiosity regarding the average asset allocation to Impact Investing and each of the SDGs; the NAB is just as curious to find out and will take this on when analysing further the results. Stay tuned!
During the day, many perspectives, opinions and contributions were exchanged, connections were made, and value was created. We look forward to the next opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences. Let’s continue driving real impact!
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