July 28, 2023

July Newsletter

Dear Friends of IFB,

Hereby an introduction to the IFB newsletter, the start of a series that will provide you with news and updates on the Belgian impact finance ecosystem. The role of IFB is centered around impact, as a positive social or environmental contribution, alongside financial returns. IFB started earlier this year as an initiative to create a community of players from the Belgian impact finance ecosystem, with the overall goal to increase the share of impact capital in Belgium.

Our team; Diane Delava (ex-Solifin), Stéphanie van Berckel (ex-philanthropy sector) and myself (ex-development banker), supported temporarily/part-time by Eva Balemans, Noor Aly and Wendy Braeken, is happy to set up office at the Impact House in Brussels. Together we are building the organisation, its supporters and its members, while working on the content with research and working groups that are of importance to our members.

Via the IFB newsletter we will keep you up to date on recent developments, news in the sector, upcoming events and much more.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the coming months.

Enjoy your summer,
Frederik van den Bosch and the IFB team

IFB officially accepted as the Belgian National Advisory Board of the GSG Network

At their June meetings in Istanbul, the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing formally approved IFB’s application to become the National Advisory Board for Belgium. The GSG Board noted the strength of IFB’s leadership, the breadth of experience within our members and the quality of IFB’s future plans. This made Belgium the 38th member of a growing global group of organisations that promote and support impact investing in their home countries. We can learn from each other’s practices and collaborate on topics of joint interest.

Read Steven Serneels’ testimosnial in the Impact Investor magazine.

Become an IFB Member

Are you considering becoming a member? Contact us at hello@impactfinance.be and let us know you are interested! We will provide you with the right information and support. We are of course open for any other enquiries via email as well. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Second Belgian Impact Day

We would love to see you all on the 8th of November for the Second Impact Day at The Square in Brussels. We aim to bring all interested parties together to collaborate on impact finance in Belgium. With interactive sessions, panel discussions and inspiring keynotes, together we will transform dreams into deeds. The feedback on the first Belgian Impact Day was immensely positive, which shows us the appetite for collaboration and the potential for growth of impact finance in Belgium. We hope that you will join us on this day to be inspired, to further develop your network and to work together on strengthening the impact finance ecosystem in Belgium.

News from Our Community

IFB Job Opening: Senior Project Manager
Possibility to join Malaga GSG Global Impact Summit – 2-3 October as a stakeholder; IFB has tickets available for stakeholders, interested to join the GSG Global Summit. Please let us know (hello@impactfinance.be) if you are interested.
Courses: SuFi Masterclass, Efiko Impact Investing Essentials – Sharpen your knowledge on impact investing essentials.
EVPA – SFDR Survey – Fill in this survey to help the EVPA monitor the effects of the SFDR regulation on impact funds and more broadly on the impact ecosystem. This survey will support EVPA’s analysis and allow EVPA to raise the impact voice at the EU level: The Survey is open till end August.