Capital investors in social enterprise seek financial returns, of course, but these impact investors also seek social change and environmental progress.
Impact investors often speak in terms of patient capital, which refers to investments that can take up to a decade to turn a profit. This term was coined by the Acumen Fund, founded in 2001 as a groundbreaking venture capital fund to support businesses in emerging markets with investment capital rather than grants.
However, unlike many other impact funds which are set up to make money, Acumen is structured as a nonprofit and seeks only to recoup its investments via payback or exit within five to seven years. To date the fund has invested $57 million in 55 different companies, and some 30 million people use the goods and services produced worldwide.
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