The Editor's Post: Why the impact investing elite must break out of their comfort zone
Why we're highlighting the inequality that persists in impact investing – again, plus the innovators using AI to tackle environmental challenges and how the Pioneers Post team is supporting young storytellers. This week’s view from the Pioneers Post newsroom.
It isn’t news that the world of impact investing is dominated by rich white men – and that this is holding back the radical change that the movement says it’s actually seeking to create.
Yet this inequality persists, which is why we’ve chosen to highlight the topic in this week’s newsletter. Nicole Etchart, co-founder of impact investor NESsT, takes our ‘Awkward Questions’ slot to ask why impact investors are still ignoring their diversity blind spots. It’s a challenge that many of the elite obviously feel safer ignoring. After all, why cede control, why make the effort to do things differently, why move out of your comfort zone if the impact indicators are lighting up green anyway?
It’s a theme that Bayo Adelaja highlighted in her opinion piece for us last month too. “Black leaders are still being left out of the rooms where funding decisions are made,” she said.
Ensuring that impact investment gets to where it’s really needed is one of our key themes this year, and we’ll return to it again and again. But we’re not just here to criticise, we want to highlight examples of good practice too, as Nicole does in her article.
I also urge you to dive into our Earth Fixers feature about the startups using AI to tackle environmental challenges in which you can not only listen to the wonderful audio of a pack of wolves howling to the moon in a Swiss forest but also enjoy some cute seal visuals. What’s more, the stories of the environmental entrepreneurs are pretty inspiring too!
Finally, you’ll see that we’re running a training programme in journalistic storytelling for a cohort of ‘Global Youth Ambassadors’ brought together by the charity Theirworld. This is one of the ways that we at Pioneers Post make social impact (we’re a social enterprise ourselves) and it’s also another income stream for the business. My colleagues Anna, Dave and I are really inspired by the young people that we’re mentoring, who are aiming to highlight the challenges that children around the world are facing accessing education, from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to minority groups in the UK. We’ll share updates on their progress later.
This week's top stories
Why are impact investors still ignoring their diversity blind spots?
Making waves: The new generation of startups using AI to save the planet
Unlocking change: Pioneers Post kicks off journalism programme for 10 young trainees
The Impact World This Week: 24 April 2025
Image by Jo_Johnston from Pixabay
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