(LONDON) 26 September 2018 — Bangladesh, New Zealand, and South Africa will be the latest countries to launch national advisory boards (NABs) to promote impact investing in their respective regions, bringing the impact movement to all inhabited continents around the globe.
The three countries join the 18 existing countries and the European Union in the global network established by the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) in response to the G8 Social Investment Task Force.
“The impact revolution is a truly global movement, and its expansion to Bangladesh, New Zealand, and South Africa underscores that the pivot to risk, return, and impact is spreading to all corners of our world,” said Sir Ronald Cohen, founder and chair of the GSG.
The GSG’s Board of Trustees approved the new member countries amid preparations for the upcoming annual Impact Summit on 8-9 October in New Delhi, India. The Board also approved sites for its next two Impact Summits: Santiago, Chile on 7-8 November 2019, and Johannesburg, South Africa in 2020.
“Our 21 national and regional advisory boards now represent 3 billion people and reflect the growing momentum of the impact movement,” said Amit Bhatia, CEO of the GSG. “We welcome the 3 new NABs to our global network, and look forward to bringing the Summit to Latin America with host Santiago in 2019. We are also preparing to usher in the 2020 Tipping Point for the impact movement from Johannesburg in South Africa in 2020.”
The chairs of the three new national advisory boards — Kazi Shofiqul Azam, Secretary of the External Resources Division at the Bangladesh Ministry of Finance (Bangladesh); David Woods, Chairman of the Impact Enterprise Fund (New Zealand); and Elias Masilela, Executive Chairman of DNA Economics (South Africa) — will be formally admitted to the GSG network at the 2018 Impact Summit in October. Following the Summit, pre-registration will begin for the 2019 Impact Summit in Santiago, Chile.
“We are delighted to bring the Impact Summit to Latin America for the first time,” said Angelica Zegers, chair of the Chilean national advisory board. “With all of the energy and momentum for investing for measurable social and environmental impact across the continent, we look forward to hosting the world for an engaging and exciting event.”