I believe that everyone is an impact investor and how you invest can have a dramatic impact both in your local community and across the globe. Peter Diamandis recently said, “The world’s biggest problems are the world’s biggest business opportunities, and if you want to become a billionaire, help a billion people.”
These are real business opportunities, similar to investing in Google 15 years ago or hybrid cars 10 years ago, with the additional benefit of helping families just like yours and mine. These families may not be wealthy, but they are committed to providing a better life for their children, grandchildren and themselves, but they need access to simple things we take for granted, including electricity.
Africa Beyond the Grid
President Obama recently made a historic trip to Africa. One of the purposes of his trip was the 2013 initiative “Power Africa: Beyond the Grid,” which aims to increase energy access for underserved populations across sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million people. Power Africa has successfully forged strategic partnerships with African governments, multilateral development banks, bilateral partners and more than 100 private-sector partners to maximize impact and accelerate private-sector investment in renewable energy. Power Africa’s initial $7 billion commitment has already mobilized more than $20 billion in private-sector commitments to invest in power generation and distribution across sub-Saharan Africa. When you combine the government and private-sector commitments, nearly $32 billion has been mobilized toward the initiative. These investments will provide access to the grid for more than 60 million people and will do so by using renewable energy sources.
It’s great that all this money is being mobilized, but what is it doing specifically? As an example, M-KOPA is a financing company that sells solar devices to off-grid households on an affordable one-year mobile money payment plan. Since its inception in 2011, M-KOPA has provided affordable solar power to over 200,000 East African households and is adding 500 more every day. M-KOPA sells products through 1,000 retail shops throughout East Africa and has a goal of reaching 1 million homes by 2017. These devices have reduced the reliance on kerosene lamps, thereby saving countless lives and reducing local pollution.
Helping One Family at a Time
Alex Keitany works in Kabara, Kenya, as a farmer. Alex installed a solar panel on the roof of his rural house. Since purchasing M-KOPA, Alex has been able to light three rooms and charge his and his neighbors’ cellphones. Alex has the ability to access his account through his cellphone and deposit money whenever and wherever he is. Alex opted for an installment of 40 shillings every day, but he has the ability to deposit more when he has the extra money to do so. This flexibility allows Alex to pay ahead so he’s never late and without light. The light allows him and his family to study and work after dusk. The money he earns from charging his neighbors’ cellphones is an additional source of income for him and reduces the need for his community to walk miles to town for power. This access to power will have ripple effects on his children’s education, his income and their health from not having to rely on kerosene lamps in the evening.
Today, more than any other time in history, we have the opportunity to create and participate in 21st-century solutions for the world’s most underserved populations. If you are interested in how to access these types of opportunities or aligning your values with what you care about most, please reach out to your advisor for more information on Align Impact.
You have the power to move the needle on an issue you care about. The question is, how will you do that today, tomorrow and in the years to come?
Who Is Align?
Align Impact is a Registered Investment Advisor that was formed by Abacus Wealth Partners and Aspiriant, two wealth management firms that collectively manage roughly $10 billion in assets and serve over 2,000 clients. Align was created because both firms feel that impact investing and philanthropy are best handled by specialists who are passionate about and well-versed in the rapidly changing impact landscape.
We believe that integrating your money and your values is a critical part of the wealth management process. People are demanding that their personal, business and foundation grants and investments become more tightly aligned with their values. As trusted advisors to many of the most fortunate and influential people in the world, we hope to do our part by helping our clients use their resources to solve the world’s greatest environmental and social challenges.
We recruit our impact specialists from wealth management, philanthropy consulting, investment management and charitable organizations. While we deeply understand the wealth management process, we do not provide wealth management services. Instead, we work closely with your current wealth manager or can refer you to an impact-friendly wealth manager.
