Soros Economic Development Fund

Today we’re proud to announce that the Soros Economic Development Fund is included in the Financial Times’ list of 100+ impact investors, produced in collaboration with The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). This searchable list highlights our impact assets under management and our strategic focus across key sectors and global regions. This initiative marks a significant milestone for impact investing, providing a useful resource for investors to align their portfolios with impactful and sustainable solutions and showcasing where capital is making a difference and inspiring future investments. By contributing our data, we're advancing transparency and driving momentum in impact investing. Explore the full package on the FT Wealth Management website: https://on.ft.com/4d3YVAC #ImpactInvesting #SustainableFinance #FinancialTimes #InvestingForImpact #GlobalGoals #ImpactInvestorList2024

The Soros Economic Development Fund is proud to serve as a sponsor of the Mission Investors Exchange 2024 National Conference! We’re looking forward to coming together to explore and celebrate the unique role of philanthropy in impact investing and to drive positive social and environmental change. #MissionInvest2024 https://lnkd.in/eAi4-tYX

Last year was the hottest in recorded history with fires, floods, and droughts exacting a devastating economic and human toll. That’s why this #EarthDay we want to recognize our partners’ critical work at the intersection of climate change and inclusive democracy via our recent investment commitments to: Support a just energy transition: - Allied Climate Partners is boosting the number of bankable, early-stage climate projects in Africa, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and South Asia - Acumen’s Hardest to Reach Fund is closing the clean energy gap by financing affordable green energy access in 16 of the least developed countries in sub-Saharan Africa Strengthen climate resilience: - Blue Orchard Finance’s InsuResilience Fund provides affordable climate risk insurance to vulnerable communities in the Global South - Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) is the first adaptation-focused agribusiness investment fund in Africa Protect, restore and manage natural ecosystems: - Impact Earth’s Amazon Biodiversity Fund finances sustainable businesses in the Brazilian Amazon that create jobs and preserve standing forests We will continue advancing our colleagues’ work on equitable climate action and we look forward to forging new partnerships this year. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ggxPPGjr Photo: With support from Blue Orchard, Pula operations manager Daniel Mbuvi assists a farmer in harvesting maize, in Kitui county, Kenya, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi #ClimateJustice #GreenInvestment #ClimateResilience #ImpactInvestment

Despite global economic insecurity, Africa’s thriving start-up scene has huge potential. That’s why we are proud to sponsor the annual AVCA - The African Private Capital Association Conference, the world’s largest Africa-focused investment summit, in Johannesburg from April 22-26: https://lnkd.in/dTwwMhn We are pleased to highlight some of our investees’ vital work in Africa on climate action, gender equality, and healthcare: Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) helps smallholder farmers access credit, expand their markets, and weather climate shocks. Alitheia IDF is the first dedicated fund for investing in a wide portfolio of women-owned, women-led, or women-serving SMEs across the continent. Hewatele is Africa’s leading locally-owned provider of life-saving medical oxygen and is constructing a new manufacturing plant to boost distribution and improve affordability. For the last two decades the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) has invested in dynamic local ventures in Africa that deliver for underserved communities, create meaningful impact, and encourage systemic change. We look forward to meeting our investees and exploring new partnerships. See you in Joburg! Photo: A cassava farmer, who expanded her business with the help of financing, sells her cassava to a local buyer. © Jason Florio/Redux #AVCA

On International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the work of our inspiring partners empowering women and girls around the world, among them: • Women's World Banking, focused on women’s financial inclusion in emerging markets; • Alitheia IDF, the first dedicated gender lens investing fund in Africa; • Kiva which lends to displaced people, with a particular focus on women; and • Cadence OTC a public benefit company advancing women’s reproductive rights in the United States by improving access to low-cost contraception. We are proud to support these and many others advancing equity for women across the globe.

Our recently announced $25 million investment in Allied Climate Partners (ACP) will help this new and innovative public-private partnership increase the number of bankable climate projects in emerging markets and developing economies around the world. Read more about this investment on our site:

Lack of investment is hampering the green energy transitions needed to combat climate change in emerging economies. A new fund, Allied Climate Partners, which we are supporting with a $25 million investment, aims to unlock millions in high-risk capital to fund clean energy projects across the Global South. Read more from our Georgia Levenson Keohane on Open Society Foundations’ website:

What if more of Vietnam’s 60 million motorcycles ran on electricity and not gasoline? What if Kenyan rooftop solar companies could increase their installed capacity twenty-fold by 2029? Projects like these would accelerate the transition to clean energy in emerging economies–but they often don’t get the funding they need because they’re seen as too high risk for investors. That’s why we’re helping to launch Allied Climate Partners to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in high-risk capital into locally managed investment funds in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean to fund green energy projects. This is one of our largest impact investments, and we’re committing $25 million to this innovative public-private partnership. We’re joining with the Three Cairns Group, Bezos Earth Fund, Sea Change Foundation International, and several other philanthropic and investment partners to launch it. Learn more: https://osf.to/3wqAgFS Photo: Pradeep Dambarage/Nurphoto/AP Fishermen work on their nets on a beach near a wind power plant in Mannar, Sri Lanka, on March 18, 2023. © Pradeep Dambarage/Nurphoto/AP #OpenSociety #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateJustice #ClimateResilience Soros Economic Development Fund

We are proud to announce one of SEDF’s largest ever single investments—a $25 million commitment to Allied Climate Partners (ACP), a new initiative that aims to increase the flow of investment into climate projects in the Global South. You can find out more about the commitment to ACP in our news release, https://lnkd.in/e_iDC4Xs, and in this by SEDF’s executive director Georgia Levenson Keohane: https://lnkd.in/gkgWf8N2 In short, it’s an effort to use philanthropic capital to take on the early stage risk in climate related projects that currently discourages the large scale investment flows needed from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and other development institutions, together with private sector investors. ACP, launched at last November’s COP28, brings together a group of philanthropies, including the Three Cairns Group, the Bezos Earth Fund, and Sea Change Foundation International. SEDF’s involvement builds on earlier Open Society Foundations grant-giving aimed at increasing the funds available from MDBs, through a $5.25 million project supported by us together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation. The team at SEDF is also exploring further ways that impact investment can be used to catalyze far larger scale investment—as the world grapples with bridging the climate financing gap for low- and middle-income countries. One recent study estimates that developing countries need at least $1.1 trillion per year in additional capital to finance the systemic shift to sustainable energy, and to adapt to more inhospitable climates. In a separate climate investment, SEDF last year committed $15 million to the Amazon Biodiversity Fund, a Brazil-based investment fund dedicated to financing sustainable businesses in the country’s Amazon region that both create jobs and preserve standing forest: https://lnkd.in/ggn4tSyG

"SEDF’s low-interest loan will give Remedy Alliance the working capital to surge its operations. It will also test an innovative financing mechanism that...can attract support from additional lenders." https://osf.to/41ml3RS