Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and Impact Investment Shujog (Shujog) opened its office doors Thursday evening, November 11th, to host its third monthly Impact Chat.

This month’s topic, “Investing for Impact” focused on the growth and challenges in the impact investing sector of Asia from the investor’s perspective.  Impact Chat invited Mr. Oscar Moreno, founder and chairman of Qi Global and Mr. Christian Luetkehaus, managing director and partner of Portelet to speak about how their social philosophies influence their investment philosophies.

The evening discussion was hosted by Robert Kraybill, Managing Director of IIX and welcomed over 30 guests with evening drinks and lively discussion.

The Impact Chat series is made possible from support of Corum, helping IIX and Shujog “Unlock and Conquer” the social issues of today.  For more information and to receive an invitation for the next event, please contact Lina Tang at ltang@asiaiix.com.

Earlier this year, IIX Founder Durreen Shahnaz was selected to be a 2010 Ted Fellow, joining a group of “outstanding individuals who have shown unusual accomplishment, exceptional courage and moral imagination.” At TED, the Fellows share their work on the conference stage; these talks are recorded and shared online, free to the world.

In this talk, Durreen details the creation of Impact Investment Exchange – the very first stock exchange for social enterprises – and how her defiant optimism has gotten her to where she is today.

View more Ted Talks by other Fellows here.

For more information about this event, please visit the symposium website.

On Tuesday, November 5, IIX Founder and Chairperson Durreen Shahnaz took a break from a busy conference schedule in New York to speak at her alma mater, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She presented the story behind IIX, and how the right combination of defiance and optimism can revolutionize how capital markets can be used for social good.

Read a recap at The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s undergraduate independent student newspaper: “For alum, optimists can make a profit.”

Durreen Shahnaz, IIX Founder and Chairman, was interviewed by writer Lisa de Bode for “De Tijd,” (The Times), a business and economics daily newspaper in Belgium.

Read the English translation of the Dutch article below – another great example of how IIX is garnering attention across the world through its unique business model.

“The world’s first exchange for social enterprises will open in Singapore” (translated by Magnus Young)

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), established by the Singaporean
entrepreneur Shahnaz Durreen, is creating the social equivalent of the
ordinary stock exchange. It is the world’s first exchange for social
ventures.

They will be active from September 2011. The exchange will serve as a
trading platform for buying equities and bonds from social enterprise
firms in Singapore, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Both profitable and
companies with a social mission, as well as not-for-profit companies
can go there.IIX will create a liquid and transparent market where social companies can easily access capital in order to increase their impact on their environment. It also intends to grant investors both social and financial “dividends” from the same investment.

The possibilities are enormous. These could include the possibility of investing in bonds of a local homeless business, or to buy shares in a firm that recycles office furniture. From projects in Singapore with mainly an economic perspective, to sustainable solutions to changing society. “We are not a charitable institution,” says Shahnaz.

“Every dollar is paid back.”

The concept appealed particularly to investors who have been entrepreneurs themselves. From their successful career they want give back to the society, but also see their hard-earned money making adequate returns. Bill Gates is the best-known entrepreneur today,with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supporting philanthropic projects. John Rockefeller had similar intentions, and his finances (e.g. the Rockefeller Fund) funded the establishment of the exchange with a one-time donation of $ 495,000.

In Portugal, a similar initiative is underway with the upwards direction of BVS Portugal (SSA Portugal) after Brazil’s social stock exchange model Bovespa. Here it is an online platform where investors can buy shares in social projects in the region at a fixed price of 1 million euro.
“In these cases, they are not real investments because you can not earn financially,” says Shahnaz. The United Kingdom is also planning to establish a ‘real’ social stock exchange that would be trading social stocks and bonds.

In Belgium more and more philanthropic funding is projected in the near future by a growing number of estates. “For now this money is invested for example in cooperative companies for good goals, and we see no need in Bel20 for an NGO in Belgium,” Dirk Dalle says of Jack, a financier and and advisory organization for social projects. ”We do see more space in the future for citizens to invest in such projects. Especially in the field of social welfare, we see a growing need. ”

(click to enlarge the original article)