Impact investors have been missing a large swath of the global economy — one driven by women, youth, indigenous peoples and other workers and entrepreneurs who are often overlooked and underestimated: the creative economy.

2021 is the United Nations International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, a declaration recognizing the creative sector as a key driver of inclusive and sustainable growth. The creative economy is not only one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the global economy, it is also highly transformative in terms of income generation and job creation, employing more people aged 15-29 than any other sector and over 285 million women around the world.

This session highlights how the creative economy delivers social and environmental impact, and describes the growing opportunity for impact investors to shape the global creative economy to be more inclusive, equitable and sustainable.

To learn more, read Creativity, Culture, Capital: Impact investing in the global creative economy with essays written by 96 experts from 24 countries including Sir Ronald Cohen, Yo-Yo Ma, Marta Minujín and Darren Walker.