Impact Investing

Megatrends and major challenges today

Stakeholder capitalism

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The spectrum of social and financial objectives (SRI, ESG, Philanthropy)

Impact Investing: definition, metrics and examples + the 5 pillars to impact investing

The promises surrounding impact investing are seductive – “doing well by doing good”, better long-term risk management, even new sources of extra returns. Skeptics argue a focus on non-traditional criteria may distract and reduce returns, or, on the other extreme, shift funding away from worthy philanthropic causes.

The primary purpose of the module is to develop a general understanding of the challenges of
impact investing and to show how the investment and impact thesis of an impact investing firm is used in practice when deciding where to invest.

Learning objectives include:

• understanding impact investing and differentiate it from traditional forms of private equity/venture capital and philanthropy
• discussing the role of the investment thesis and operating model in an impact investing firm
• debating the importance of hands-on investing approaches in impact investing
• appreciating the trade-offs between financial returns and impact that actual investment
  opportunities present, and how to address them
• understanding the challenges to growing a business and integrate ESG/impact product offerings in a variety of contexts, including a large financial services firm or a real estate company
• looking at the means to achieve scale relative to organic growth

Being case-based, the course focuses on practicing diagnosis and problem-solving, not just on acquiring new knowledge. At the end of the module, you should therefore be able to:

• better understand and diagnose impact investing thesis in various industry environments
• master and apply the key concepts and frameworks of impact investing
• think systemically through the risk-return-impact framework.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL SESSIONS – All participants are to (1) read all advance readings and prepare each case individually; (2) discuss each case in depth in their working group; (3) attend and actively take part to all plenary discussions. No group presentations will be taking place.

TIMING OF YOUR PREPARATION – Optimally, you should carefully prepare the cases (plan 1.5 hours per case)  during the 7-10 days preceding the Module, in order to have all relevant facts and figures of each case freshly in mind when the plenary discussions take place.

Cases are available on uv.ulb.be.

Contacts

Céline Vaessen (celine.vaessen@ulb.be) 

Bruno Farber (bruno.farber@mac.com)

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Group work

Group work

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

A group assignment will be given at the end of the course (80%). The assigment is to develop your own impact investment strategy (investment thesis, market, risk and return, impacts and key performance indicators) and make a written presentation to the Investment Committee of an institutional investor in order to raise capital (1’000-2’000 words maximum, 4-7 pages).

Individual participation in class discussions will be graded (10%), as well as your results to a multiple choice test (10%) on the 17^th of April, 2025.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english