11.04.2011 - GEXSI brings experience and insight to the 2011 Vision Summit
GEXSI brings experience and insight to the 2011 Vision Summit
Monday 11th April 2011 / For Immediate Release
Berlin, Germany – Senior members of GEXSI provided valuable contributions to the success of the third Vision Summit, which was held in Potsdam from 7-9 April 2011. Appearing as sector experts, the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Dr Maritta Koch-Weser, and Dr Andreas Renner, Chief Executive Officer, lent the Summit their constructive experience and understanding of the rapidly emerging European impact investment space to interested participants. Dr Koch-Weser moderated a session on how NGOs, social entrepreneurs, foundations and companies can cooperate and learn from each other more effectively. Dr Renner was part of an expert panel that discussed the challenges of providing banking services to social innovators and investors.
Commenting on the Vision Summit Dr Renner noted that, “One of the key factors for the success of the Vision Summit format is that it allows important conversations amongst sector exponents to occur; and these dialogues are helping shape the nature of the growing European impact investment scene.”
Dr Renner added, “Since GEXSI was established in 2001, we have been on an exciting journey through the full spectrum of impact investment, helping to develop the thought and practice of enterprise development in low-income regions around the world. Our recent work in incubating two social businesses in Madagascar – and experiencing the challenges and frustrations faced by many social entrepreneurs in developing their business models – has been invaluable to us. The value that GEXSI brought to the 2011 Vision Summit is that we were able to draw upon these experiences and show to people the origins of impact investment, the current sector challenges and the possible future directions impact investment in which can develop."
The Vision Summit is a collaborative initiative led by the Berlin-based Genisis Institute, and strongly supported by GEXSI. The inaugural event was launched by the father of micro-credit, Dr Muhammad Yunus, and is one Europe’s most high-profile impact investment events, drawing a diverse audience of advocates, entrepreneurs, students and other practitioners from across Europe, especially Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
About GEXSI
GEXSI, the Global Exchange for Social Investment, was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2001 to pioneer entrepreneurial solutions to end poverty. We organisation works at the interface of venture philanthropy and social impact investing; it works through a UK registered charity and a project development and advisory firm. The original goal of GEXSI was to set up an exchange for social investments in low-income regions around the world. The original aim of the organisation was to identify outstanding social enterprises and match investment proposals with mainly US- and Europe-based impact investors. GEXSI revised its focus to concentrate on providing social entrepreneurs with financial and advisory support for early-stage development while providing social investors with strategic guidance on how best to deploy their money to achieve the maximum positive social and environmental benefits. Based on our vision of working towards a world where new entrepreneurial ideas to fight poverty, flourish, we have developed two entities united under the GEXSI banner to advance our work: the GEXSI Charity, our not-for-profit organisation, and GEXSI Capital Partners, our project development and advisory services organisation.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Darrin Lee Long,
Project Manager
Phone: +49 30 2888 3310
Email: leelong@gexsi.org
