The Impact World This Week: 20 February 2025
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week: Syria’s first hackathon unites social innovators to support recovery; UK government backs social enterprise in public procurement rules shake-up; Alfanar’s MENA impact fund launch is “good news for impact investing”, and more.
Syria: More than 5,000 participants are expected to join the first ever Hack for Syria, an online and in-person event which aims to help communities generate their own solutions to the challenges that the country faces as it recovers from more than two decades of dictatorship under Bashar al-Assad. The hackathon, led by Startup Syria, runs from 22 to 28 February, and will bring together teams of entrepreneurs, NGOs, community leaders, Syrian residents and others to focus on topics including education for young people, access to mental health support and peacebuilding.
Europe: Impact investors and social entrepreneurs can help EU industries to stay competitive and cut their carbon footprint at the same time as promoting social cohesion, according to impact investing network Impact Europe. Next week will see the launch of the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal which aims to revitalise Europe’s manufacturing sector. In an open letter to EU policymakers, Impact Europe’s CEO Roberta Bosurgi and advocacy director Jana Bour highlight that “social impact, social entrepreneurship and social innovation” should be fully integrated into the Clean Industrial Deal’s framework.
UK: “Small businesses and social enterprises are more likely to generate diverse and thriving local economies, creating jobs and economic growth.” This is a statement in the UK government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement which comes into effect next week alongside the Procurement Act 2023. The guidance urges government departments, the NHS, local authorities, schools and other public bodies to maximise the amount they spend annually procuring goods and services with small and medium-sized enterprises and social enterprises as part of the government’s national priority to drive economic growth.
UK: Better Society Capital invested £68m in social investment in 2024, catalysing £400m of investment from co-investors, which supported 250 impact-led organisations, according to its 2024 Impact Report published on Tuesday. As many as 65% of organisations in the social investment wholesaler’s social lending portfolio are located in the country’s most deprived areas, and 72% of enterprises taking on investment are targeting disadvantaged and/or underserved groups of people – a slight decrease since 2023. Of organisations taking social investment, 87% are reporting improved resilience and 97% improved growth. Better Society Capital also reports that none of its social investment fund managers has all-men boards, and 30% self-describe as diverse-led fund managers (where any underrepresented or marginalised groups have at least 50% representation on decision-making bodies).
UK: B Lab UK wants to make all UK businesses a “force for good” within 10 years, and has revealed a new strategy that it hopes will help achieve this goal. While B Corp certification will remain the core activity of the organisation, it will seek to engage with businesses not yet able to meet B Corp standards, “in those industries with the greatest potential to transform”. B Lab UK will design models that all businesses can adopt to become better companies, while raising the bar by showcasing the leaders of the “business for good” movement. The five-year strategy will also include developing B Lab UK as an organisation and ensure its credibility, and to play a role as an “influencer” to change the culture of business and improve regulation by working together with the full B Corp community.
Middle East and North Africa: An impact fund dedicated to the MENA region has launched, to much enthusiasm from the sector. Anara Impact Capital, a subsidiary of established venture philanthropy investor Alfanar, will focus on supporting education, wellbeing and climate resilience. Anara managing director Nafez Dakkak said: “There will be almost 1bn people in MENA by 2050. The region our future generations inhabit will be determined by the decisions we make today… [I am] looking forward to working with bold founders and investors committed to making a difference.” Jamie Broderick, chair of the Impact Investing Institute, said the launch was “really good news for impact investing” in the Middle East.
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