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Our SOCAP23 Theme, Tracks and Content Curation Councils

Facing Urgency: Impact at the Speed of Trust

Our theme this year, Facing Urgency: Impact at the Speed of Trust, comes from an internal exercise of asking ourselves: Why SOCAP and why now? The answer is that there is a sense of urgency and need for action facing humanity today; yet, our community acting in silos won’t get us very far. We must build deep relationships more quickly to collaborate effectively on the solutions we all seek to challenges around the globe.

We must face the challenges of our time with urgent action and solutions. Trust is essential for catalyzing impactful solutions — when people trust each other, they are more likely to collaborate, share information, and take risks. When you build trust, you create a foundation for collaboration and cooperation. This leads to more innovative and effective solutions.

At SOCAP, we convene to accelerate the speed of trust. We orchestrate discovery, facilitate serendipity, and offer a platform for cross-learning. The theme for SOCAP23 propels our community to work together, collaborate, and co-create as essential ingredients to rapidly create real impact.

Within our theme, we have identified the nine content tracks around which we will organize our sessions. We will also have regional tracks for attendees to follow, focusing on Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

We invite you to join us for SOCAP23 in San Francisco, from October 23 to 25 — find the details and register here.

SOCAP23 Theme and Tracks

As corporations and governments move along their decarbonization paths, the demand for innovative climate solutions is growing across the globe. In order to shift the economy toward net zero, we'll need disruptive innovation in many sectors. Moving the world's energy matrix toward renewable energy will not be enough. Humanity must also change the way it uses land to produce food and integrate nature's services into the economy, including carbon capture and storage, water, and biodiversity. There is an entire continuum of financing instruments working toward this endeavor. This track will explore various perspectives, encompassing both macro-level and micro-level considerations. At the high level, we will examine the validity of different lenses and their role in establishing an overarching framework. On the micro level, we will delve into the practical aspects of effective implementation and explore what it takes to bring about meaningful change on the ground while also analyzing the resulting outcomes. The track will cover blended finance strategies to radically increase the amount of capital available to achieve climate justice. In particular, sessions will shed light on capital that invests in nature-based solutions and regenerative land use, especially in the Global South.

The impact of any social or environmental change movement depends inherently on the well-being of the individuals and organizations within those movements. At a time when founder burnout and toxic work cultures have the potential to bring down entire portfolios of impact organizations and startups, well-being has come to the front and center of conversations on impact investing. With a holistic approach that integrates data, empathy, and wellness practices, this track is positioned to help attendees understand and address mental health challenges within the impact field while improving leadership and outcomes. Rooted in the belief that well-being is a must-have, not a nice-to-have, this track will explore how we might develop actionable strategies to integrate wellness into the operational framework of social enterprises and the funding/investment process. Sessions will support participants in their own journey with inner well-being and introduce tools to understand, support, and enhance well-being in the social enterprise ecosystem.

Community and economic development are at the heart of impact investing and transforming economic systems around the world. This track will explore how we can overcome economic barriers to create progress and vitality using just and sustainable models. Attendees will be encouraged to re-evaluate and open a conversation on their connection to power and explore ways to both share and assert it. Sessions will highlight scalable models and ideas for greater economic participation, including the transformative power of impact investments in critical areas, such as housing, education, and health. The track will pay close attention to the different stakeholders and their unique responsibilities to achieving holistic community development that fosters equitable and sustainable growth.

Social entrepreneurs are at the center of the impact investment ecosystem. Their successes and failures as founders, managers, community interlocutors, and fundraisers determine the level of community impact, investors’ expectations, and whether investment expectations are fulfilled. This track examines the paradigms (both implicit and explicit) that govern the relationships between social entrepreneurs, the ecosystems that support them, the investors that fund them, and the communities they exist to serve. This track will feature sessions that invite ecosystem builders, accelerators, and other support organizations to reflect on their roles, provoke new areas of improvement, and prompt collaboration. Funders will offer insights into the current impact investing context, navigating a volatile market, and alternative financing mechanisms beyond venture investment. Sessions will offer formats that encourage honest exchanges on power dynamics between funders, founders, and communities. The track hopes to put the question of growth — and its pace — front and center as it relates to building the intended lasting impact.

Gender inequality is a major obstacle to sustainable development and must be urgently addressed. There are several fronts to tackle this global challenge, and gender lens investing continues to expand and evolve along with communities of practice pushing for measurable progress toward more sustainable and equitable investment practices. SOCAP23 attendees will explore key trends, contextualized solutions, and demonstrations of the impact of gender lens investing on women and girls, the economy, the environment, and social justice. Through a dialogue on more intersectional, cross-cutting, and rigorous gender analysis and investing, the goal of this track is to further demystify gender lens investing across asset classes. Sessions are designed to build greater awareness and confidence to deploy gender-smart capital, enhance capacity from various tools, and deepen knowledge to further our work. Sessions will also look to build connections and collaborations among peers while reflecting regional contexts.

The historic lack of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has led to disparities across the impact spectrum. To fully leverage impact investing as a vehicle for social change, fiduciaries need to take a full-spectrum approach to DEI to better inform equitable investment decisions. The goal of this track is to highlight the best-known practices as well as shortcomings that need to be addressed to create a more socially reflective impact investing ecosystem. More specifically, it takes a critical look at the evolving language, standards, and measurement of DEI among impact investors. Other sessions will showcase creative ways that traditional capital allocation norms can be brought up to speed with emerging DEI best practices. DEI is not only the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. It’s an ongoing learning journey for all of us. Therefore, this track will prioritize immediate actions that can guide individuals and organizations toward more inclusive and equitable investment practices.

Companies re-invest a substantial portion of their sales, ranging from 30 to 60%, in their value chain, compared with the 1 to 2% they typically donate. Recognizing this untapped potential, value chain investment holds the key to unlocking billions of dollars in funding to combat poverty and address the effects of climate change. Value chain investment can create a strong brand for the sourcing company while developing entirely new markets and sourcing higher quality materials — effects that benefit the entire value chain. But this approach requires deep knowledge about a company’s market and supply chains in order to develop a portfolio of companies that can create and sustain value along the entire chain. As a powerful ecosystemic investing approach, value chain investment has the potential to bridge the gap between smallholder farmers, low-income consumers, and manufacturers, allowing a greater share of value to flow among them. Sessions in this track examine the practice of value chain investment to address the critical bottlenecks that limit scaling and impact within volatile value chains. Sessions will explore a shift in mindset, helping attendees move away from sector-focused investments to embrace a systems-change approach. This track will showcase dialogues relevant to ethical and sustainable supply chains for large corporations and social entrepreneurs, including deeper dives into common mistakes or obstacles and what it takes to succeed.

This track will offer participants an invitation to explore the role of philanthropy as a catalyst for impact investment and innovative finance. With this exploratory mindset, the track will present experiences and discussions that highlight the ways in which different stakeholders are deploying concessionary finance for purposes of greater impact. As the field of innovative, catalytic capital matures, the focus on mechanisms over impact has given rise to artificial barriers between impact investing and philanthropy. Taking an impact-first lens, this track aims at highlighting the spectrum of approaches available, including blended finance and others. The urgency of the global challenges we face collectively requires that collaboration occurs along the entire capital continuum, building on past successes instead of reinventing solutions every time. Beyond a showcase, this track will offer content and examples that are practical, actionable, and with a global perspective. Rather than being confined by differences, this track will focus on the interdependencies and bridging benefits of viewing philanthropy and impact investing as part of the solutions needed to accomplish a more equitable, just, and truly environmentally sustainable world.

Humanity is hurtling toward our planetary boundaries with increasing speed; yet the practice of impact measurement and management, which is supposed to guide us toward solutions, hasn’t kept up with the pace of acceleration. We have too many competing frameworks and still no widely recognized standards that allow stakeholders to compare outcomes across sectors, geographies, scales, and timelines. This track challenges attendees to advance the practice of impact measurement and management to keep up with the urgency of our time. Participants will critically examine how impact data and measurement practices create real value, and we will highlight participatory approaches that allow us to design with, not for, the people and communities who are on the front lines of global change. Going beyond the status quo, sessions will also explore the type, quality, and standardization of data needed to allow for comparison of results across actors, sectors, and geographies to guide impact-driven decisions. Assuming that quality data will drive more effective and ubiquitous outcomes, sessions will debate how to leverage these insights to steer organizations’ missions toward real impact.

By 2050, Africa's population is projected to reach 2.2 billion people, solidifying its position as the world's most significant opportunity for impactful initiatives and global innovation. Consequently, it is crucial for all stakeholders involved in driving positive change to actively engage in Africa. Africa offers immense potential for the global community to invest in creating a fair and just future for the continent. This track aims to explore targeted enterprise growth in critical areas such as food supply, healthcare services, and educational solutions within local communities, while also fostering meaningful relationships. Furthermore, it is impossible to discuss Africa's potential without acknowledging the invaluable contributions of the African diaspora. As the largest contributor to the African economy, with a staggering $80 billion invested in 2020, this track will also emphasize the significance of the African diaspora and its potential for private investment in all 54 African countries. It aims to offer a comprehensive and sustainable fresh perspective that is inclusive, equitable, and capable of producing long-lasting impact.

Asia holds a significant position on the global stage, with 63% of the world's population and 42% of total global wealth. The impact investing landscape in Asia is evolving and reaching maturity, making it a unique region capable of delivering impactful solutions at a large scale. This track aims to explore Asia's burgeoning impact investing scene, focusing on aligning impact measurement and management reporting, with particular attention given to verifying and confirming impact at the grassroots level to prevent any whitewashing. It also seeks to highlight solutions and best practices from Asia. Sessions will showcase solutions that amplify Asian voices and perspectives, shedding light on important issues such as the prevalence of climate disasters in Asia and the regressive state of gender equality in the region. It emphasizes the need for partnerships between local and global organizations, encourages active stewardship from investors, and highlights the fast-growing landscape of impact investment opportunities in Asia.

Latin America and the Caribbean are home to a vibrant impact investment ecosystem. As a region with strong institutions, biodiversity, substantial human capital, and a growing middle class, the opportunities for impact abound. The dialogue on impact investing in Latin America and the Caribbean is gaining momentum. There is a growing recognition of the potential of this type of investment to address the region's most pressing challenges. This track will offer sessions curated to provide Latin American and Caribbean stakeholders an opportunity to elevate the dialogue about impact capital markets; showcase the region’s pipeline and case studies of regional actors innovating to move capital toward impact; and explore opportunities to scale more “homegrown” solutions outside the region. Sessions will be designed to generate connection, tangible collaborations, and clarify the region’s opportunities and key ecosystem players.

Content Curation Councils: Tracks

We take the curation process seriously — it goes beyond selecting and organizing quality presenters and topics. We want our attendees to be a part of the session, a part of the takeaways that build a better future and help advance our community’s global mission.

This year, we have evolved our curation process, moving toward a distributed approach to building our conference programming. Along with those selected through SOCAP Open, the sessions within each content track for SOCAP23 are co-created and curated by Content Curation Councils of 39 experts from around the world working closely with our content and production teams.

The Councils are tasked with identifying the set of sessions that will guide the conference conversations along each track.

Each track and each session is the result of a months-long process, designed to present a SOCAP23 experience that helps our community accelerate relationships, break down silos, and identify gaps — then bridge them.

Content Curation Councils: Regional

Africa, Asia, and Latin America are home to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The majority of the world’s poor and marginalized people live in these areas, and they are also facing serious environmental challenges, including climate change and deforestation.

These regions also are home to some of the world’s most innovative and promising impact investment opportunities. They have a wealth of human capital and natural resources, and they are also experiencing rapid economic growth. Impact investors can play a vital role in supporting this growth and helping to create a more sustainable and inclusive future for these regions and the world, but it is important to have content from these regions in order to ensure that the solutions are tailored to the specific needs of the communities.

This is why SOCAP Global has the privilege of counting on experts from these three regions to curate specific regional tracks, and who also will serve as a bridge to offer our other Content Curation Councils suggestions of speakers, case studies, and networks that are relevant across all tracks. The cross-cutting aspect of the regional content across all tracks combined with the specific regional sessions will offer the global audience at SOCAP23 the right combination of breadth and depth.

Meet the SOCAP23 Content Curation Councils

Morgan Simon

Candide Group Social Entrepreneurship Council

Jacques-Philippe Piverger

GoodLight Capital Social Entrepreneurship Council

John Kohler

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Social Entrepreneurship Council

Sana Kapadia

2X Global Gender Lens Investing Council

Andia Laura Chakava

Graça Machel Trust Gender Lens Investing Council

Agostina Pechi

Goldman Sachs Gender Lens Investing Council

Jimmie Briggs

Skoll Foundation Full Spectrum DEI Council

Joanna Kuang

Illumen Capital Full Spectrum DEI Council

Ruben Hernandez

Full Spectrum Capital Partners Full Spectrum DEI Council

Aparna Shrivastava

U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Climate and Capital Council

Tom Chi

At One Ventures Climate and Capital Council

Daniel Contrucci

Climate Ventures Climate and Capital Council

Dana Preston

The Wellbeing Project Well-Being for Impact Council

Missy Rentz

The Wellbeing Project Well-Being for Impact Council

Edwin Macharia

Dalberg Advisors Well-Being for Impact Council

Joshua Haynes

Masawa Well-Being for Impact Council

Nathalie Molina Niño

KNOWN Holdings Community and Economic Development Council

Payal Dalal

Mastercard Community and Economic Development Council

Santiago Alvarez

ALIVE Ventures Community and Economic Development Council

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli

Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition Ltd. Value Chain Investment Council

Rick Kellett

Value Chain Investor Value Chain Investment Council

Antonio Nuño

Someone Somewhere Value Chain Investment Council

Sylvia Dimiti

Prosper Africa Value Chain Investment Council

Alejandro Alvarez von Gustedt

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Philanthropy as Catalytic Capital Council

Alicia Maitland

Convergence Blended Finance Philanthropy as Catalytic Capital Council

Joe Collins

The Philanthropy Workshop Philanthropy as Catalytic Capital Council

Sasha Dichter

60 Decibels Impact Measurement and Management Council

Antony Bugg-Levine

Lafayette Square Impact Measurement and Management Council

Dipti Pratt

Toniic Impact Measurement and Management Council

Astrid Scholz

Armillaria Impact Measurement and Management Council

Frank Aswani

Africa Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) Africa Council

Almaz Negash

African Diaspora Network Africa Council

Anna Ekeledo

AfriLabs Africa Council

Carolina Suarez

Latimpacto Latin America Council

Yuri Soares

IDB Lab Latin America Council

Rodrigo Villar

New Ventures Mexico Latin America Council

Naina Subberwal Batra

AVPN Asia Council

Shariha Khanam Khalid

Impact Hub KL Asia Council

Celeste Tan

IIX Institute Asia Council

Our team is happy to help! Contact us