Nearly 1,000 members of the impact investing community congregated at the Sankalp Unconvention 2013 last week. The fact that this industry has grown so rapidly is anecdotally visible in the turnout at this event – while one would expect social enterprises and investing funds; the breadth of representation from other players was impressive: from incubators, international aid agencies, journalists, and academia to even tech consulting services, marketing and branding specialists.
As the sector grows and the conference evolves, some interesting and nuanced themes emerged.
Rise of the angels: For some time now, the angel investing community has become active in the impact investing space and this feels like an increasingly growing tribe. This was evident at Sankalp too as several members of the Indian Angel community took active roles at the event. Reena Mithal, an angel investor who backed a vocational education enterprise last year (LabourNet), had interesting experiences to share. As an angel, one has a choice of creating a diversified impact portfolio or putting all of one’s might behind one company, Mithal noted. She chose the latter, but believes it all depends on one’s risk taking appetite and how involved one wants to get with the enterprise.
