Session Videos

 

9:00-9:05 | Welcome Remarks
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• Robert Petty, Chairman, EMPEA
• Mark Eckstein, Co-Head, SDG Working Group, EMPEA and Director, Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR), CDC Group

9:05-9:25 | Opening Keynote Address: Investing in Generation Unlimited
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• Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF and Co-Leader, UNSDG Results Group on Partnerships

Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, will speak on the special role of private equity in accelerating investment in our youngest citizens, across the first two decades of life, in order to achieve the sustainable development goals. Ms. Fore will discuss new partnership models for engagement with the private sector, new tools to help investors assess their impact on children and a new opportunity to invest in solutions for young people-the Generation Unlimited Partnership.

9:25-10:15 | Keynote Conversation: Exploring the SDGs as a Framework for Maximizing Value Creation and Impact
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• Tim Macready, Chief Investment Officer, Christian Super
• Charlotte Petri-Gornitzka, Chair, Development Assistance Committee, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO, Calvert Impact Capital
• Scott Wu, Partner and Head of Investments, Omidyar Network
• Moderator: Amanda Feldman, Director, The Impact Management Project & Bridges Impact+

10:15-11:10 | Keynote Plenary: The Leaders Panel—How to Most Effectively Incorporate the SDGs into Your Investment Strategy
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As private capital fund managers across the globe are increasingly looking to the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a potential framework for thinking through investment decisions and ultimately monitoring and measuring overall impact, a handful of leaders have already begun to adopt such an approach. These industry experts will share their insights on both the opportunities and challenges of aligning with the SDGs and will discuss in detail their strategies for evaluating and ultimately quantifying the impact they are making on the companies and communities in which they invest.

• Why are the SDGs a useful impact framework for fund managers? What are the challenges with the main tools, techniques and roles that have been adopted to date in measuring impact—and how do the SDGs compare?
• What are the best approaches to measuring impact? How can private capital firms most effectively align capacity, teams and strategies to the SDGs?
• To what extent are LPs driving the conversation? How are LPs evaluating the SDGs in their allocation decisions and to what extent, if any, have they changed the approach of fund managers?

Speakers

• Runa Alam, Co-Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Development Partners International (DPI) 
• Frank Dunlevy, Vice President, Investment Funds Department, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) 
• Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive Officer, CDC Group 
• Karima Ola, Partner, LeapFrog Investments
• Sev Vettivetpillai, CEO, LGT Impact
• Moderator: Alistair Fulton, Senior Partner, Environmental Resources Management (ERM)

11:30-11:35 | Setting the Stage: IFC’s Nine Principles of Impact Investing
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Presenter: Neil Gregory, Chief Thought Leadership Officer, Economics and Private Sector Development, International Finance Corporation

11:35-12:15 | Panel Discussion: Understanding the Evolution of LP Expectations
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• What is driving the need for ESG implementation from the LPs’ point of view? Is it a desire for higher returns or reducing risk?
• How are LPs assessing and evaluating potential investments?
• Will demonstrating a return on social value in exits become the norm in the future?

Speakers

• Cindy Hu, Portfolio Manager, Impact Investments, Prudential
• Orli Arav, Managing Director, EMFin Advisory
• David Wilton, Managing Director & CEO, Zheng Partners LLC
• Hany Assaad, ESG Community Chair, EMPEA and Co-Founder, Chief Portfolio and Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, Avanz Capital
• Moderator: Neil Gregory, Chief Thought Leadership Officer, Economics and Private Sector Development, International Finance Corporation

12:15-12:45 | Private Equity’s Role in Delivering the SDGs

EMPEA’s SDG Working Group led the development of this EMPEA report which addresses common challenges investors face when engaging with the SDGs given the breadth of the SDGs, underlying targets and KPIs, both which are set at a national level and may not translate easily to a specific investment. This report also identifies a range of additional challenges that require attention, including attribution of impact, ‘additionality’ and net impact.

This session will illuminate the report findings via a brief report overview and three case study presentations.

SDG Report Overview Presenter: 

• Mark Eckstein, Co-Head, SDG Working Group, EMPEA and Director, Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR), CDC Group

Case Study Presenters: 

Shami Nissan, Co-Head, Responsible Investment, Actis
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Portfolio Company: Integrated Diagnostic Holdings (IDG)
Founded in 2012 as a result of the merger of Al Mokhtabar and Al Borg Laboratories, Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) is a medical diagnostics group based in Egypt, with operations in Jordan, Nigeria and Sudan. It provides diagnostic services to patients and other laboratories, including pathology and molecular diagnostics genetics testing and basic radiology. In 2015, IDH listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Actis remains the largest shareholder after the CEO.

Steven Tiller, Co Founder and Managing Partner, Southern Bridge Capital
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Portfolio Company: Pablo Mella
Pablo Mella is a large-scale affordable housing development located in Santo Domingo that will contain over 8,500 apartment units when completed. The project commenced sales in 2012 to help tackle the large housing deficit of over 1 million units that exists in the country. SBC is working with its local development partner, government agencies and implementing a study, conducted by UNICEF, to deliver a residential community that provides green areas, security, schools and others services to low income families transitioning from sub-standard informal housing conditions.

Gary Vaughan-Smith, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer, SilverStreet Capital
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Portfolio Company: Silverlands Tanzania
An integrated agricultural business focusing on the poultry and feed business. Since its inception in 2013 it has become the largest feed and chick producer in Tanzania. The fund has financed the development of the  business from scratch:  soya processing , the largest feed-mill in East Africa, silo storage complexes, a poultry operation and, distribution centres across Tanzania. It has had a substantial social impact through the development of a market for soya beans with some 9,000 small-holder farmers now growing soya – their incomes have roughly doubled as a result. Additionally the company works with some 23,000 small-holder poultry farmers, over 80% of whom are women. These farmers have also seen substantial increases in profits driven by the availability of high quality feed and more efficient poultry breeds.

14:25-15:15 | Concurrent Session: Scaling Impact by Integrating ESG in the Investment Cycle
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• What are key characteristics of a framework to manage ESG risks and opportunities?
• How can ESG integration improve and enhance the value of an investment?
• Please identify portfolio company case studies to highlight best practices around ESG integration

Speakers:

• Anne Hutton, Senior Banker, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 
• Florian Kemmerich, Managing Partner, Bamboo Capital Partners
• Robert Petty, Co-Founder Clearwater Funds / Co-CEO and Co-CIO Fiera Capital (Asia) 
• Ashwin Roy, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Surya Capital
• Oriane Schoonbroodt, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Label R
• Moderator: Simon Abrams, Head of UKI ESG Transaction Support, EY

17:15-17:50 | Sustainability and Operational Excellence Challenge

The top three finalists from the EMPEA Institute’s Sustainability and Operational Excellence Challenge will present stories of private equity deals that produced an outstanding sustainable impact from an operational, environmental, social and governance perspective.

2018 Challenge Winner:
Nepra Resource Management Pvt. Ltd. | Watch the video »
GP: Aavishkaar, an early-stage investor focused on catalyzing development in India’s underserved regions
Represented by Ajay Maniar, Partner, Aavishkaar and Sandeep Patel, Managing Director, Nepra Resource Management Pvt. Ltd.

2018 Challenge Finalist: 

Bandhan Bank Limited | Watch the video »
GP: IFC, a global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries, and IFC Asset Management Company (AMC), a wholly owned subsidiary and captive private equity arm of IFC
Represented by Swapnil K. Neeraj, Principle Investment Officer, IFC and Ioannis Mergos, Senior Investment Manager, AMC

Rio Energy | Watch the video »
GP: Denham Capital, an energy and resources-focused private equity firm investing in oil / gas, power and mining
Represented by Sabine Chalopin, ESG Manager, Denham Capital