Dear Friends of IFB,
The shortest month of the year, IFB used for its biggest plans, on content, with our members and partners inside and outside Belgium. Early in February, we hosted a meeting with our NAB siblings from across Europe, reflecting our intention to collaborate more on European regulatory topics. We are expanding our contacts with Belgian public entities to support them in their good work towards more sustainability and impact. We are lining up different working groups with members and other partners to assess different topics that are crucial to them when striving for more impact.
Throughout 2024, we will present several shorter publications that will help you navigate different impact topics and some of these, we will use during the different events we have lined up for you, some for members only, some for specific target groups and some for the wider audience, and more will be added to this list. Please contribute and register. We look forward to your presence and contributions.
Enjoy reading and keep creating your impact!
Frederik and the IFB team
On 6th February, IFB hosted a meeting with several European National Advisory Boards (NABs) – Netherlands Advisory Board on Impact Investing, SpainNAB, FAIR France, Maze Impact, Social Impact Agenda Per L’Italia – and Impact Europe (formerly EVPA).
After working well together on the recent SFDR consultation, we came together to network, to continue working together at European level and to speak with one voice. This was the first local meeting, at the IFB offices in Brussels, to discuss overlaps, collaboration and next steps. In the coming months, we will align our member offering, jointly launch a market survey, coordinate on regulatory topics, draft a political manifesto (for the EP elections) and coordinate our events.
As announced last month, IFB will start different working groups of IFB members (and some outside experts) across crucial impact topics. In March, we plan to start with a group of Institutional investors who are eager to expand their impact operations. We will do the same on the topic of Place-Based investing and around the IFB ambition “beyond 10%” to identify in what way to ensure that impact finance will be able to grow after the first 10%. At this stage, we target to invite different members who have shown their interest in different topics. We remain very open to any of your interests on these topics. You can always share these via hello@impactfinance.be (or directly with any of us).
IFB is organising different impact events catered for the public and for members and invites only.
On Monday 11 March, IFB will present at Impact Monday, organized by the Impact House. Building on the publication of ‘ESG and Impact’, Frederik van den Bosch, Wendy Braeken and Christel Dumas will unravel the complexities of the definitions, frameworks and classifications of Impact Finance. To bring the different elements together, they will present a cohesive framework meant to guide you to better understand impact in the investment world.
If you cannot attend this Impact Monday, IFB is organising a webinar series on the topic of Impact and Impact Measurement and Management. This webinar is divided into 4 topics starting from the basic to the advanced level which can be attended separately. The webinars are foreseen to be 1 hour from 12PM – 1 PM and open to all.
Another interesting upcoming event is IFB’s collaboration with Impact for Breakfast. With a rather limited philanthropic capital but high demands, then how do foundations think about the tradeoff between these various demands? Thus, to answer this question, joining us will be Sybren Devoghel from King Baudouin Foundation and Tanguy Vanloqueren from Foundation for Future Generations where they will discuss ‘The Role of Philanthropy in Impact Investing.’
Mark your calendar on Thursday, 28 March from 8.30 – 10 AM. This event will be held at BIO Office (Boulevard Bischoffsheimlaan 15, 1000 Brussels).
IFB is proud to announce that we are organising a webinar series on the topic of Impact and Impact Measurement and Management. This webinar is open to all and it is online via MS Teams. This is a 4-series-1-hour webinar from 12 -13 CET. On each webinar IFB will invite an expert to share their experiences and insights about a topic.
The first webinar is on ‘Impact Unraveled: Differences and Similarities between ESG and Impact Investing.’ In this webinar IFB aims to unravel the definitions, differences and similaries between ESG and Impact through the frameworks that we had developed on the Second Belgian Impact Day. The presentation of these frameworks by Impact Finance Belgium will be augmented by insights from Professor Cristel Dumas of the Brussels Management School ICHEC. It will be held online on Thursday, 28 March 2024 from 12 – 13 CET.
The other three webinars will cover the following topics:
You can already register for these webinars, more information about the expert will be confirmed and announced soon via IFB LinkedIn and website.
More information will be announced soon via IFB LinkedIn and website.
IFB Member News:
KBC x Deloitte Study – Sustainable Investing
Deloitte and KBC carried out a market study on how sustainability translates into the retail customer’s investment journey. Through a survey of 1,000 investors in Belgium, as well as discussion panels, questions were asked about retail investors’ perception on sustainable investing.
Ethias – New Impact Investment Policy
Ethias crafted its first Impact Investment Policy in collaboration with BE.IMPACT. This policy becomes a significant part of Ethias’ sustainable and responsible investment framework.
With this initiative, the insurer confirms its goal to work towards a more resilient and inclusive economy by promoting projects linked to a more sustainable, climate-resilient, carbon-free economy and to stronger social cohesion, reduced inequalities, health prevention and improved well-being.
Phitrust – Social Enterprise: Scaling Impact Through Corporate Partnerships
📅 Save the date! On March 12 at 8:45 am CET, join Phitrust for an online event (in French) hosted by Phitrust Partenaires. 🌐 Explore “Social Enterprise: Scaling Impact Through Corporate Partnerships.” 🚀 Featured speakers will be Frédéric Bardeau, co-founder of Simplon (having partnerships with Meta, Microsoft, Apple) and François Lepicard, Partner at Hystra focused on creating business model innovation that drives sustainable impact at scale 🌍 Moderated by Frédéric Vuillod, Founder of Mediatico. Registration details available on the link below. Don’t miss out! 🤝 #SocialImpact #Innovation #Partnerships.
Goodwell – Charting the trends that will shape African investment in 2024
In this blog, Goodwell shares the trends that will shape African investment in 2024. Despite the hurdles of 2023, Africa continues to shine as an investment hub. Discover how AI, 5G connectivity, and renewable energy initiatives are propelling Africa towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.
LITA.co – TOWT: cargo sailing ships are giving wings to sea transport
LITA.co just raised €5M for TOWT, the company that aims to massively reduce the environmental impact of maritime transport by developing cargo sailing ships.
In 2022, 2,000 LITA.co-investors have already funded the first two TOWT cargo sailing ships. Now that those are about to make their first crossing, as many as 6 new sailing vessels were co-financed by citizens on LITA.co in France and Belgium (€5M crowdlending in a total financing round of €120M).
Funds for Good – Love & Trust in the Financial Sector
Funds For Good is happy to invite you to a conference on the theme ‘Love & Trust in the Financial Sector’, animated by Satish Kumar, a life-long activist, who will share with us his thoughts about the ethical challenges and the role of the financial sector in our society. The conference will be followed by a lunch. Register before 5 March.
News from Sibling Organisation
Read the latest news and updates from GSG and NABs.
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