An investor’s perspective on measuring and managing social performance and impact

The active pursuit of social performance and impact is at the heart of the preoccupations and a key differentiator for impact investors specialized in financial inclusion. The article analyzes the reality of financial inclusion investing from the perspective of investors and reflects on the best practices that have emerged. Gathering insights from industry experts, we look back at twenty years of efforts, achievements and dialogue that led to globally accepted social performance standards. We show how MIVs embed impact throughout their investment process to effectively promote social performance at the level of their investees and gather examples of contributions of MIVs to build responsible financial inclusion eco-systems. We also open the debate on the remaining collective insufficiencies, including in the areas of rigorous measurement tools and approach to prevent the risks of Impact Washing and to truly differentiate an impact investor from a commercial, non-impact driven investor.