I took Integrated Investing on the road and in March, we officially launched the book to the impact investing community in Toronto. In partnership with the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and with the support of HUB International, we welcomed over 30 guests at the MaRS Café. Pique Fund investor and Board member, Lally Rementilla joined me at the front of the room to read excerpts from Integrated Investing and share our personal perspectives and experiences in impact investing.
Investing as taking care of the village empowers a diverse community of people to invest in businesses and make decisions about their future. If we do not have diversity among investors, we perpetuate the same systems that have resulted in more unequal societies and the exploitation of people and the planet.
Excerpt from Chapter 3: Impact Investing: Taking Care of the Village
The concept of investing as taking care of the village is an overarching theme in Integrated Investing. It captures the notion that when it comes to decisions about our investment dollars, the stakeholders we want to take care of include ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our communities, future generations, and our planet. Rather than just focusing on maximizing shareholder returns, instead we should be thinking about optimizing taking care of the village.
In our conversation, Lally also added that impact investing isn’t just about focusing on the money. It’s also about the village – the community of people around a venture that can contribute expertise, advice, and connections to help it succeed, rather than sit along the sidelines observing passively.
By and large, women are integrating their activities of investing in their families, personal causes, and their selves into their lives and activities as they go along. I am inclined to believe that an integrated approach to investing resonates with women and that they could very well be naturals at impact investing.
Excerpt from Chapter 9: Gender Lens Investing
Lally is highly motivated to support women as investors and entrepreneurs, having been inspired by the entrepreneurial women leaders in her own family. The business community is starting to catch on to the strong business case for investing in women-led companies. But there are many reasons why leadership diversity has a positive impact. Research shows that diverse groups are better at solving problems and generate better quality ideas. Routinely, less than 5% of women-led ventures are able to get venture capital investment and less than 5% of venture capital investors are women. Investing with a gender lens is a way to move the dial towards gender parity in the venture ecosystem and enable leadership diversity.
What are you doing in your investment strategy to optimize taking care of the village or to invest with a gender lens? Please share your story in the comment section below.
Special thanks to our event sponsors
The Centre for Impact Investing is a social finance hub and project incubator that acts as a neutral collaboration space for all sectors — government, community and private — to strengthen our collective ability to mobilize private capital for public good. Pique Ventures is grateful for MaRS’ in-kind sponsorship of the event venue and event coordination for the Toronto launch of Integrated Investing. For more information about the Centre for Impact Investing, visit impactinvesting.marsdd.com
HUB is a global insurance brokerage, with over 1 million clients around the globe, served from 400 offices across North America. HUB provides complete protection: property, casualty, life and health insurance products; employee benefits and business risk management; and wealth management products and services. Pique Ventures is proud to work with HUB as its insurance broker and thanks HUB for its support of the Toronto launch of Integrated Investing. For more information about HUB’s products and services, visit www.hubinternational.com/en-CA/
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More resources and tools for evaluating impact and doing effective due diligence, check out Integrated Investing: Impact Investing with Head, Heart, Body, and Soul, available at all major online book retailers.
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