Month: September 2023

This week’s spotlight deals focus on Women’s empowerment. Three of the latest deals from our Women’s Empowerment sector show that opportunities do exist, if you know where to look for them: DEAL D000482 – LOCATION: GUATEMALA Indigenous women may have experience in entrepreneurial activities such as handicrafts, but they have historically been excluded from bank credit. This often limits their poss...[Read More]

Cobalt is sometimes found along with copper as in this copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than half of the global mined cobalt production comes from the DRC. 2017 (Photo by Fairphone) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 19, 2019 (Maximpact.com News) – The European Union is aiming for a reliable supply of rare earth minerals and so i...[Read More]

By Marta Maretich @maximpactdotcom At its most effective, communication is a two-way process. Developments in engagement practices between companies and social, responsible and impact (SRI) investors are showing us that this idea is now more applicable than ever. New expectations and standards are growing up around investor/investee engagement in the SRI investing sector. These are driven by a num...[Read More]

A woman sprays pesticides over a field. (Photo by International Food Policy Research Institute) Creative commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis GENEVA, Switzerland, May 4, 2017 (Maximpact.com News) – “The millions of rural women on the ground that are in the frontlines of the struggle against highly hazardous pesticides in their daily lives as farmers, workers, and consumers,” are the inspirati...[Read More]

By Marta Maretich  @maximpactdotcom Sustainability is a key concept for our times. For impact investors who want to put their capital behind better ways of doing business, it’s an important indicator of investability. But what exactly do we mean when we say “sustainability” or “sustainable”? The dictionary sheds a little light. Sustainability: 1. Conserving an ecological balance by avoiding deplet...[Read More]

PRESS RELEASE: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, January 22, 2016 – Ushering in a new era of corporate accountability, a group of leading corporations and health organizations is calling for the voluntary public reporting of workforce health metrics. The initiative of the Vitality Institute is led by a working group of representatives from more than a dozen organizations, including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, M...[Read More]

Maximpact special advisor Cornelius Pietzner has been engaged in the fields of philanthropy, social finance and investment in the US and Europe for the last 25 years. As Maximpact’s work gathers momentum, we asked him some questions about impact investing, Maximpact and the future he sees for the sector. You have a long and varied career of involvement with very diverse charitable, philanthropic a...[Read More]

No fossil fuels needed, the Cerro Dominador solar power plant is directly connected to Chile’s National Electric System. The plant is located in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world with the highest levels of direct solar radiation on the planet. The sun’s energy is beamed by 10,600 mirrors to the top of the 250-meter-high tower, where liquid salts are heated to generate steam, which...[Read More]

Syrian boys in Raqqa, June 2013 (Photo by Beshr Abdulhadi) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 26, 2018 (Maximpact.com  News – “I want to help” is “Ana bady asa’ed” in Arabic, the language of much of Syria. This simple translation illustrates the steep learning curve Syrian refugees face trying to re-start their lives in an English-speaking country, such as ...[Read More]

Metal casting factories like this one in the United Kingdom give off enough excess heat to warm dozens of dwellings. 2020 (Photo courtesy EMB3Rs) Posted for media use BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 14, 2021 (Maximpact.com News) – Five European project teams revolutionizing waste heat and cold recovery and industrial energy cooperation have joined forces to create an Alliance for Energy Cooperation in Eu...[Read More]

The Solarturm Jülich about 60 km west of Cologne, Germany is a test facility for commercial solar tower power plants. (Photo courtesy German Aerospace Center, DLR) Posted for media use. By Sunny Lewis HAMBURG, Germany, July 7, 2017 (Maximpact.com News) – The German Presidency of the G20 meeting in Hamburg this week has put energy and climate high on the agenda as civil society groups call for 100 ...[Read More]

By Pallavi Shah, International sustainable/impact investing consultant; photographer Global Investing, May 20, 2016 (Maximpact.com News)  – Impact investing is gaining traction among both large and small investors and entrepreneurs. Angels, private equity firms, and banks are expanding beyond their traditional markets and exploring deals that could generate financial returns, while also having a p...[Read More]