We, the human race, have successfully addressed many of the challenges of the last century – science and technology has advanced, markets have evolved and globalization has ensured that our world is now flat and connected. However, much in the world is still broken and in need of an intelligent and immediate fix:
Poverty is widespread
* 1.4 billion people in developing countries live on $1.25 a
day or less
* 925 million people do not have enough to eat — Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases.
*1.7 billion people lack access to clean water – 2.3 billion people suffer from water-borne diseases each year
Climate Change – We’re on the brink
* 150,000 people die every year due to climate change
* Eleven of the last 12 years rank among the 12 warmest years on record – The result: prolonged droughts, flash floods, intense storms, El Nino, La Nina, etc
* The effects of global warming could destroy the habitats of and threaten extinction for over one million species of plants and animals. While government resources and charitable donations have increased, they still remain insufficient in order to address our world’s major problems. Meanwhile, select social ventures and impact investing principles have shown reasonable promise. The global challenges of this century demand nothing less than turnkey futuristic solutions that will go above and beyond provincial thinking. We are at a crucial juncture; both Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing need a radical new approach in order to make a creditable difference. We need to overcome antiquated thinking and primitive methods for them to mature, propagate and thrive in today’s fast-evolving economic landscape. The Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a nonprofit organization focused on scaling socio-environmental impact - helping social and eco entrepreneurs achieve scale and maximize impact as they address some of the planet’s most disconcerting challenges.
