With the unwavering support of the European Union, our market building efforts were never more pronounced than in 2023. We continued building the social investment ecosystem in Eastern Europe through our pioneering project, Collaborate For Impact. Moving into the third year of the project, the fruits of our work are ripe. The impact funds that were launched in Georgia (Actio), Armenia (VIA Fund) and Ukraine (Ukrainian Social Venture Fund) over the course of the project have started disbursing investments to the social enterprises in their portfolio.
The launch of these impact funds represents a pioneering example of EU capital invested catalytically. Over the course of the reporting year, the funds have managed to attract another €300,000 euros in additional funding through individual and institutional investors, exemplifying the intended de-risking effect. This development has allowed for experimentation with new financial instruments, such as partial returnable grants or zero interest loans, ushering in a new phase of the impact funds’ development.
We continued to explore avenues to create and support similar funds in Moldova and Azerbaijan, all while increasing awareness of social economy and impact investing. To this effect, a wide range of stakeholder activities were organised in all project countries, including training sessions for journalists, webinars, Impact Days, Impact Breakfasts and a groundbreaking summit in Tbilisi (Impact in the Neighbourhood). These activities are necessary to build the emerging structure for a social economy in the region; the power of network is an essential resource in itself.
The last two years of the project will focus on the financial sustainability of the funds – honing their financial instruments and capacity-building efforts, while also supporting them in independent fundraising.
The work of market building has also inspired individuals in our community to set higher goals: in 2023, Martijn Blom, Impact Europe’s Impact Funds Development Coordinator, launched an ambitious initiative to set up 100 funds by 2028, many in the same regions the Collaborate For Impact and Impact Together! projects target. 12 down, 88 to go!
