Formation | 2014 |
---|---|
Type | Non-profit |
Registration no. | 1171353 |
Purpose | Prevention/ Relief of Poverty Overseas Aid Economic/community development/employment |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
CEO | Alix Peterson Zwane |
Website | https://www.globalinnovation.fund/ |
The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) is a non-profit investment fund. It invests in the development, testing, and scaling of social innovations with the potential to have a measurable impact on the lives of those living on less than $5 per day, such as new products, services, business processes, and policy reforms. [1] It is headquartered in London [2] [3] with offices in Washington, D.C., Nairobi and Singapore. [4]
GIF was launched as an independent nonprofit [5] in 2014 with a $200 million commitment from the UK's Department for International Development, [6] the U.S. Agency for International Development, [7] Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, [8] the Swedish International Development Agency, [9] as well as The Omidyar Network. [10] [11] [12]
GIF was founded "with the goal of creating an entity separate from government bureaucracy that could look at what different financing models can do for development". [13] Its founding aim was to "pool capital to spur creative, pioneering interventions to tackle global development challenges". [14] Alix Peterson Zwane was named as GIF's first CEO in 2015. [15]
Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the launch of GIF [16] following the revision of the UK's foreign aid agenda, which pledged to uphold the UK government's commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance and “a step-change in the effectiveness of the UK’s approach to aid”. [17]
In 2019, GIF announced a new sub-fund focused on gender equality in partnership with Global Affairs Canada. [18] The sub fund invests in “innovations that increase the agency of women and girls. Innovations in the fund work towards greater participation by women in decision making, prevention of violence against women and girls, and greater control over assets”. [19]
At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, GIF launched its Innovating for Climate Resilience fund, in partnership with the Adaptation Research Alliance and the Global Resilience Partnership and with seed funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. [20]
This sub fund “invests, through grant, equity and debt instruments, in innovations with the potential to scale and support the world’s poorest to build resilience and adaptation”. [21] In 2022, GIF announced the first innovations to receive investment from the Innovating for Climate Resilience fund: [22] Agritask, a decision-support platform for agricultural operations which received investment of $3 million; [23] and PLACE, a non-profit hyperlocal mapping organisation, which received a $460,000 grant. [24]
GIF invested in the Series B funding round of Kenyan plastic recycling startup Mr Green Africa. [25] [26]
GIF invested in the Series A $7.5m funding round of WhereIsMyTransport, a London-based provider of data and technology solutions to improve public transport. [27]
GIF invested in the $25m Series B funding round of OnlinePajak, a web-based tax application that allows taxpayers to perform calculations, payments, and tax reporting in a single platform. [28]
GIF led in the Series B funding round of Nigerian mobile payments company Paga, which works to allow users to send, receive and pay bills using mobile platforms. [29] GIF invested in the $6.3m Series A funding round of mClinica, a Singapore-based startup who provide healthcare data in Southeast Asia. [30]
GIF's aim is to support evidence-backed interventions impacting people living on less than $5 per day. [31] GIF supports "new and innovative service delivery or management models, behavior-change tools, policies, processes and products, as well as innovative technologies" [32] through investments in the range of $50,000 to $15 million. [33] GIF uses a tiered financing approach to support the scaling of innovations, [34] with funds being allocated depending on the stage of development.
GIF uses a methodology called Practical Impact. [36] This helps GIF to “forecast the impact of prospective investments and use this information to guide investment decisions”. [37]
In June 2022 GIF announced the establishment of its Singapore office, stepping-up its commitment to backing Indo-Pacific innovators. [38]
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The FCO was itself created in 1968 by the merger of the Foreign Office (FO) and the Commonwealth Office. The department in its various forms is responsible for representing and promoting British interests worldwide.
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a department of HM Government responsible for administering foreign aid from 1997 to 2020. The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". DFID was headed by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development. The position was last held between 13 February 2020 and the department's abolishment on 2 September 2020 by Anne-Marie Trevelyan. In a 2010 report by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), DFID was described as "an international development leader in times of global crisis". The UK aid logo is often used to publicly acknowledge DFID's development programmes are funded by UK taxpayers.
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Jeffrey Stuart Skoll, OC is a Canadian engineer, billionaire internet entrepreneur and film producer. He was the first president of eBay, eventually using the wealth this gave him to become a philanthropist, particularly through the Skoll Foundation, and his media company Participant Media. He founded an investment firm, Capricorn Investment Group, soon after and currently serves as its chairman. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he graduated from University of Toronto in 1987 and left Canada to attend Stanford University's business school in 1993.
Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Legatum is a partnership that uses its own funds to invest globally. The firm also invests in activities to promote entrepreneurship and free enterprise as well as anti-slavery, health and education initiatives.
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (UK) (CIFF) is an independent philanthropic organisation with offices in Addis Ababa, Beijing, London, Nairobi and New Delhi. It is a registered charity in England and Wales and in 2021 disbursed $468 million and committed $772 million in charitable investments. With assets of GBP £5.2 billion (USD $6.6 billion), it is the 5th largest global development philanthropy in the world based on annual disbursements. According to OECD published data, it is the world's second largest private funder of reproductive health and environmental protection globally and the largest philanthropy that focuses specifically on improving children's lives. In 2021, CIFF pledged $500 million towards gender equality over five years as part of the generation equality forum.
Devex is a social enterprise and media platform for the global development community. It aims to connect with and inform development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, funding and career opportunities related to international development. As an independent news organization, Devex employs more than 100 staff members in different locations, including Washington, D.C. where its headquarters are located, as well as offices in Barcelona and Manila.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
Bridge International Academies is a company which provides for-profit education to children in India, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda. It was started in 2008, and calls itself a "social enterprise". By 2022, Bridge had around 750,000 students in its schools. As of March 2023, it is the world's largest for-profit primary education chain. Its parent company is NewGlobe Schools, Inc.
OurCrowd is an online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage while still privately held. Based in Jerusalem, the company launched in February 2013, and has since opened overseas branches in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain, Singapore, Brazil, and the UAE.
LeapFrog Investments is a private investment firm that invests in high-growth financial services, healthcare and climate solutions companies in emerging markets. Since inception, LeapFrog has attracted over $2 billion USD from global investors. The firm's investments have grown at more than 24% annually over the life of the firm and its companies reach approximately 451 million consumers, primarily in Africa and Asia. LeapFrog has been ranked by Fortune as one of the top five Companies to Change the World, the first private investment firm ever listed.
Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that uses a Grand Challenges model to fund solutions to critical health and development challenges in the developing world.
Palladium is an international development sector advisory, management and implementation firm, representing the combination of seven prior companies: GRM International, Futures Group, Palladium, the IDL Group, Development & Training Services, HK Logistics and CARANA Corporation. As of October 2016, Palladium employs over 2,500 persons operating in 90 countries. At the end of 2015, Palladium International was the fourth-largest private sector partner for the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID). During 2011, Palladium International members Futures Group and Carana were USAID's fourteenth and sixteenth largest private sector partners, respectively. At the end of 2012, GRM International was the third largest private sector partner for AusAID.
Simprints is a nonprofit technology company originating at the University of Cambridge. The company builds biometric fingerprint technology for use by governments, NGOs, and nonprofits for people in the developing world who lack proof of legal identity. The company promotes a portable biometric system designed for front line workers. The technology uses Bluetooth to connect to an Android mobile device that is interoperable with existing mHealth systems such as CommCare, ODK, or DHIS2.
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is a development finance institution and agency of the United States federal government. DFC invests in development projects primarily in lower and middle-income countries. First authorized on 5 October 2018 by the BUILD Act, the independent agency was formed on 20 December 2019 by merging the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) with the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as with several other smaller offices and funds.
The Stichting IKEA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, a Swedish billionaire and founder of IKEA. The foundation is funded by the Stichting INGKA Foundation. Initially focused on architecture and interior design, its scope expanded in 2009 to include "improving children's opportunities". In 2020, total grants disbursed by the foundation amounted to $220.67 million.
Global Goals Week is a shared commitment between a coalition of over 160 partners across all industries, which mobilizes annually in September to bring together communities, demand urgency, and supercharge solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was founded in 2016 by the United Nations Foundation, Project Everyone, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly "High-Level Week" in New York. The week includes events, summits, conferences, forums, workshops, pledges, and other activations in New York, around the world, and online. It usually runs alongside Climate Week NYC, the annual conference of Goalkeepers, Bloomberg Global Business Forum and many other high-level events.
Ben Ramalingam is a British researcher, strategist, innovator and author, currently Director of Strategy at British Red Cross, senior research associate at the Overseas Development Institute Politics and Governance programme and advisor to the OECD Development Assistance Committee on innovation investments for development, humanitarian and human rights issues.
The Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) model is a blended finance instrument introduced for the first time in 2016. In the SIINC model, enterprises are provided with time-limited premium payments for achieving social impact, thus aligning profitability with their social impact and enabling them to attract growth capital. The SIINC agreement is a bilateral contract between an outcome funder (e.g. a development agency or a philanthropic organization) and an enterprise; an independent verifier assesses the impact performance and clears payments for disbursement; the investment between the enterprise and its investor is arranged via a separate contract.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)