Impact investing is often framed as a win–win: do good, generate a positive social or environmental impact while still earning a financial return. But what does that actually look like in practice and who carries the risk when things don’t go as planned? 

In this episode of Art of Citizenry, Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by Dr. Peter Hinton, impact investor and Associate Fellow at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, to unpack the financial architecture behind impact investing — debt, equity, and quasi-equity — and what these instruments really mean for social enterprises and impact-driven businesses on the ground.

Together, they trace the field’s roots from faith-based socially responsible investing and the rise of microfinance to today’s trillion-dollar impact investing market. Along the way, they dig into the hidden risks of hard currency loans and the tension between investor expectations and the realities faced by entrepreneurs and communities. They tackle one of the field’s thorniest questions: how do you measure social impact without overburdening the very organizations you’re trying to support? 

This episode dives into:

• The financial architecture of impact investing: how debt, equity, and quasi-equity shape risk, power, and investor-investee relationships.
• Historical roots of the field, from faith-based socially responsible investing and microfinance to today’s global impact investing ecosystem.
• Global power dynamics, including currency risk, capital flows, and the implications of hard-currency loans for entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
• The challenges of measuring social impact, why standardized metrics fall short, and how reporting requirements can burden social enterprises.
• Community-centered evaluation and accountability, exploring methods that elevate beneficiary voices and prioritize cultural and linguistic contexts.

Whether you’re new to impact investing or wrestling with its limitations from the inside, this episode offers a grounded, critical, and hopeful look at what a more equitable approach could look like.

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