How can you use cross-functional collaborations to diversify your impact investing strategy?

2 How to start cross-functional collaborations

To start cross-functional collaborations, you need to identify your goals, values, and criteria for impact investing, and then look for potential partners who share them or can complement them. You can use different platforms and tools to find and connect with like-minded investors, entrepreneurs, intermediaries, advisors, and experts from various sectors and fields. For example, you can join online communities, networks, and events that focus on impact investing or specific themes or regions. You can also use databases, directories, and platforms that match investors with impact opportunities or provide information and guidance on impact measurement and management.

4 How to overcome challenges of cross-functional collaborations

Cross-functional collaborations can also pose some challenges for impact investors, such as finding and selecting the right partners, aligning interests and incentives between partners, coordinating and integrating activities, processes, and outputs of different partners, and balancing the costs and benefits of collaborations. To overcome these challenges, flexibility, open-mindedness, and collaboration are key. Additionally, due diligence research and analysis on potential partners and opportunities should be conducted using evidence-based and data-driven decision making. External support and guidance from experts, mentors, or intermediaries can help to navigate the complexities of cross-functional collaborations.

5 Examples of cross-functional collaborations

Cross-functional collaborations in impact investing can be inspiring. For example, The Collaborative for Frontier Finance is a multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to increase access to capital for early-stage enterprises in emerging and frontier markets. This initiative brings together investors, entrepreneurs, intermediaries, researchers, and donors from different sectors and regions. The BlueOrchard Covid-19 Emerging and Frontier Markets MSME Support Fund is another example of collaboration between public and private investors, development finance institutions, foundations, and impact asset managers to provide loans and grants to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in low- and middle-income countries. Lastly, the Global Innovation Fund is a nonprofit organization that works with a diverse network of partners to source, test, and scale innovative solutions across various sectors and themes. All these initiatives demonstrate how cross-functional collaborations can be used to improve people's lives in developing countries.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?