EWEC Innovation Marketplace, An Ecosystem Approach to Collaborative Impact Investing
Channel: Sankalp Forum
Date: 2020-11-05

The investor and funding ecosystem of innovation for impact is a growing and diverse one and one that should be well-poised to meet the capital needs of entrepreneurs and the beneficiaries they serve. Yet even startups and social businesses with proven solutions and models struggle to attract the financing they need. The Every Woman Every Child Innovation Marketplace is a hands-on platform to support the most impactful entrepreneurs in navigating this landscape with success.

Born as an initiative of Grand Challenges Canada, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development and the Norwegian Agency for Development, the EWEC Innovation Marketplace leverages its expertise and networks to help innovators achieve their growth milestones faster and close their financing rounds with success, raising $32M USD for its portfolio companies in the past 4 years.

In the current unprecedented situations of lockdowns and economic shutdowns caused by COVID-19, the consequences to health and social impact as well as business viability and growth are severe. Existing inequalities for health and well-being of women and girls are growing wider and threatening to derail hard earned progress towards achieving SDGs 3 and 5. Innovators have been incredibly quick to adapt and pivot operations and strategies, but require appropriately structured capital to scale their life-saving solutions.

The EWEC Innovation Marketplace will host a session that shares fundraising best practices and key learnings on how to syndicate collaborative financing for impact that is appropriately structured or‚ to be growth and stage appropriate.

Session Objectives:
The EWEC Innovation Marketplace will employ its ecosystem approach to bring together a much needed conversation on collaborative approaches to raising capital, especially in the context of the current environment of the pandemic. Our main objectives are the following:
- Demonstrate what's possible when an ecosystem approach is leveraged to achieve collaborative financing for impact
- Celebrate successes and share challenges entrepreneurs face in today's unique environment
- Explore shared goals and unique approaches of investors from private sector, government and foundations
- Drive commitment to scale impact through investments, partnership and collaboration

Format:
- Welcome & Introduction to the Every Woman Every Child Innovation Marketplace (5 mins)
- Panel: Growing your Business During a Pandemic + Q&A (25 mins)
- Panel: What does a Supportive Ecosystem Look Like? + Q&A (25 mins)
- Concluding Remarks (5 mins)

This session is supported by Grand Challenges Canada.