Capital Musings

Esther Pan Sloane speaks with Jenny Abramson of Rethink Impact about the opportunity presented by women-led businesses; her investment thesis; what’s holding up progress; and what needs to be done to get more funds flowing to female founders.

Michael J. McCord of Milliman and Abhisheik Dhawan of UNCDF discuss the potential for innovative insurance products to reduce climate risk and help increase financing for developing country cities. 

On February 15th, UNCDF announced that Preeti Sinha has commenced her tenure as its Executive Secretary. In taking the helm as the highest-ranking leader in the organization, she will lead UNCDF in its mandate to unlock public and private finance for the LDCs.

With 30 years of global experience spanning investment and development finance, Executive Sinha will lead UNCDF's effort to harness the untapped growth potential of the world's least developed countries, while leading our COVID-response efforts. She sat down with UNCDF's Esther Pan Sloane to discuss her vision for how to make capital markets work for the world's underserved communities, and how capital can be a force for purpose in the world. 

#9 Faith, Social Justice and Money with Marvin Owens—Getting Resources to the Communities that Need them Most.

In this episode, Esther Pan Sloane speaks with the Reverend Marvin Owens, Chief Engagement Officer for Impact Shares, about the NAACP, community organizing, the role of faith in advocating for social justice, and why economic independence is critical for minority communities.

Investing in Nature’s Capital: How Capital Markets Can Value Natural Resources and Help LDCs

Alejandro Litovsky, CEO and Founder of Earth Security, discusses how creating ways to invest in natural ecosystems can transform capital markets and help LDCs reach their economic and development goals.

About 20 years ago, UNCDF's footprint in Uganda consisted of one person sitting at a single desk in another agency's office. Today, that one person—Jenifer Bukohke Wakuhugu—is the Deputy Head of UNCDF's Uganda Office, our largest in-country footprint with approximately 40 people. And Jenifer continues to teach UNCDF how to "Remain in Class."

We were fortunate enough to have Jenifer Bukohke Wakuhugu sit down with us to share her UNCDF journey as well as how UNCDF has had to respond in short order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as importantly, she will share what it means to "remain in class."

Sustainable finance signifies the potential for investment opportunities to yield both a return on investment and progress in a variety of important social areas; including environmental sustainability, financial inclusion, women's economic empowerment and racial equality. But what tools, strategies and innovations will we need to ensure that we maximize the full potential of sustainable finance?

UNCDF's Esther Pan Sloane spoke with Karen Fang, Global Head of Sustainable Finance with Bank of America, to hear her views on the future of sustainable finance, how BoA has committed to sustainability and how her industry is changing with regard to how it views sustainability.

Last October, UNCDF named the investment management industry leader and philanthropist Sonia Gardner as Goodwill Ambassador for Gender Equality in Access to Finance—making her the first goodwill ambassador in the 50+ year history of UNCDF.

In her role, Ms. Gardner will focus on advocating for ways to give women access to economic resources, including the capital they need to start and grow businesses, lift their families out of poverty, and in doing so, help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. UNCDF's Esther Pan Sloane interviewed Sonia about her professional journey as a pioneer of alternative investments, the challenges women face in reaching leadership positions in the financial sector, and her motivations for joining UNCDF as Goodwill Ambassador.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). from their flagship series: "Blended Finance in the LDCs, 2020: Supporting a Resilient Covid-19 Recovery." The third edition of the Blended Finance in the LDCs report series acknowledges that least developed countries are not able to harness the full potential of blended finance, defined in the report as the strategic use of development finance to mobilise commercial finance towards the SDGs, with a focus on unlocking investment that the private sector would not have done on its own. 

We had the opportunity to hear from three of the authors—UNCDF's Laura Sennett, and the OECD's Valentina Bellesi and Faty Dembele—who discussed the findings of the report as well as its recommendations for how LDCs can benefit from blended finance to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and support economic recovery in the post-pandemic period.

In late 2018, UNCDF embarked on an unprecedented journey--the creation of the first ever UN-exchange traded fund (ETF). The non-profit ETF sponsor, Impact Shares, launched the Sustainable Development Goals Global Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: SDGA) in collaboration with UNCDF. The ETF would enable investments that support the achievement of the SDGs, while reflecting the importance of the LDC markets and UNCDF's efforts to increase transformative private sector investments to ensure that we leave no one behind.

In the two years between the launch of the ETF and now, what have we learned about leveraging private capital to advance SDG achievement, notably in last mile markets? And what are the lessons that institutional and impact investors can use to make their capital more impactful, particularly in the age of Covid? The CEO of Impact Shares, Ethan Powell, joins Capital Musings to share his views and answers.