Middle East and Africa Summit 2020

Reinventing Development Finance: Building Long-term Sustainability

For nearly a century, finance focused on risk and return. As global issues—climate change, diversity, the future of work—grow in importance, investors understand that new factors must be integrated into their portfolio strategy. An estimated $30 trillion in global portfolios—pension funds, endowments, family trusts—is invested with social or environmental aims. The next century of finance will focus on sustainable investing to mitigate risk and amplify total returns. Case studies of capital structures that align disparate interests to deploy technologies affecting growth and measurable outcomes in the real economy inform discussion on the reinvention of development finance. Innovations in various sectors—a new healthcare platform, an agtech fund, renewable energy, and water exchanges—align with new financing models that can drive a triple bottom line and long-term sustainability.