The Impact World This Week: 5 December 2024

Belgium: Congratulations to impact startup supporter Yonca Braeckman, who was announced as Elle’s Belgian woman of the year this week. Braeckman is the founder of Impact Shakers, a pan-European accelerator and investor which focuses upon diverse founders of impact enterprises, and has featured many times in Pioneers Post. She said: “This is an amazing recognition of our work, but also of that of all the founders that we invest in.” Elle’s Belgium editor in chief, Marie Guérin, said “Yonca embodies engagement, innovation and inclusive entrepreneurship” and the jury was convinced by “her exemplary career and bold vision”. See Braeckman interviewed on Elle’s Instagram. 

• Listen to our Good Leaders Podcast: Yonca Braeckman: ‘It never felt like an option, to me, to not lead’

Global: the number of impact investing funds with a gender-lens has grown by more than 200% since 2015, according to the latest research by Phenix Capital Group. Figures are based on Phenix’s impact database, which includes information from 2,798 funds that seek to create a measurable positive impact while targeting market-rate returns. The data shows there are 471 impact funds currently targeting gender equity, equivalent to 16.6% of the total funds in the database, which have raised €63bn to date. Growth has slowed in recent years, however, with just 12 funds added in 2024. Looking at UN Sustainable Development Goals targeted by impact investors, gender equity only comes ninth out of 17. Gender-lens funds often also focus on SDGs that look at basic needs such as No Poverty and Zero Hunger. Asia and Africa are the regions most targeted by gender-lens impact funds, attracting 111 and 121 funds respectively

Global: The United Nations International Year of Co-operatives 2025 launched in India last week at the International Co-operative Alliance annual conference, which was attended by India PM Narendra Modi and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Celebrations will take place around the world throughout the next few months, culminating in July next year at the UK’s Co-op Congress in Rochdale, in north west England. Rochdale is recognised as the birthplace of the co-operative movement where the ‘Rochdale Pioneers’, a group of 28 weavers and artisans, established a successful co-operative in 1844. Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, said: “Rochdale isn’t just where the modern co-operative movement began; it’s where its values and principles continue to inspire people worldwide. Taking the International Year of Co-operatives to this historic town reminds us of how far we’ve come – and how much further we can go together.”

• Read more: New Co-operatives UK leader Rose Marley on the future of co-ops: ‘Young people see them as exciting’

UK: British Business Bank has announced £150m of lending capital for communities finance institutions (CDFIs) to invest in underserved small businesses over the next two years, which will be accompanied by a £4m capacity-building programme funded by JPMorganChase to help CDFIs improve their operations and efficiency.  Last year, CDFIs invested £102m in small businesses that couldn’t access mainstream finance, but this didn’t meet current levels of demand. Together the programmes seek to grow CDFI lending to businesses from £102m to more than £500m per year by 2029.

The British Business Bank’s programme, called Community ENABLE Funding, is funded by the government and will seek to raise another £150m in private investment for CDFIs at a later stage. JPMorganChase’s philanthropic capital will support the “Building Foundations, Accelerating Growth” programme run by Responsible Finance, designed to help CDFIs streamline application processes and reach more customers.

UK: The Workspace Group has been named UK Social Enterprise of the Year by Social Enterprise UK. The Workspace Group was founded in Draperstown, Northern Ireland, in response to local decline, deprivation, and rising unemployment. The initial business model aimed to generate rental income from business units, funding free advice for local entrepreneurs to create startups and jobs in the area. It now operates a range of businesses in nine locations, with profits reinvested to work towards its social missions. The UK Social Enterprise Awards 2024 took place in London on Wednesday. Other winners include Breadwinners (Social Impact Award), British Land/Impact Hub London (Social Investment Deal of the Year) and Finance Earth (Environmental Social Enterprise of the Year).

Figure of the week: 2,020 is the number of employee-owned businesses in the UK, according to new figures published by the Employee Ownership Association. There are 10 times more employee-owned businesses in the UK than a decade ago and double the 2022 figure, signalling an acceleration in uptake of the model.