tHOUGHT  LEADERSHIP  SERIES 

Data has shown that women and indigenous communities are key to ending poverty and tackling the climate crisis, yet they are often still seen merely as beneficiaries as opposed to change agents.

These discussions highlight some of the funding biases and gaps women and indigenous social enterprises face, why it matters and new models of finance centered on social and environmental justice, empowering those most affected to be a part of the solution. 

CRESCENT: A Global Initiative for Social Enterprise Recovery and Innovation, May 10, 2022

To stimulate collaboration and co-learning, Catalyst 2030 hosted a group discussion on the CRESCENT initiative (catalyzing recovery of social and community enterprises for transformation). Moderated by Laina Greene, participants hailed from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
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Panelists reinforce how powerful collaboration and collective action between the countries in the Global South can be. They emphasize the importance of finding grassroots organizations that align in their work to support each other, to build fairer and more just communities in these countries. The ultimate goal is to form a working group that collectively pursues programme development, better resource mobilization and implementation of a global initiative that supports the growth of social enterprises.

Using Your Values to Invest in Social Change, march 31, 2022

In this podcast with OikoCredit, Laina Greene sets down the main principles behind supporting women and indigenous communities and shares her journey of establishing Angels of Impact. 

In spite of the difficulties of not only amplifying support for female-led businesses but being a female-run business ourselves, Laina wants to create systemic change in the mindsets of investors - a feat not easily achieved because of the ingrained extractive mindset in investing.

Breaking  the  Funding  Gap, March 22, 2022

On March 22nd, Angels of Impact hosted a webinar to discuss gender lens investing in line with the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day: “break the bias”.

​Laina Greene underscored that the whole reason why we have the gap in the first place is due to extractive finance which seeks to make money for money. At Angels of Impact, we see that there is a cognitive dissonance that occurs between an investor who wants a financial approach and a philanthropist who looks at social impact, so it is often easier to as philanthropist to consider a non-extractive form of finance than an investor. Read the article here. 

Social Impact Investing with Laina Greene, November 22, 2021

Laina Greene highlights how women are key to solving the problem of poverty. She offers key insights into the topic of social impact investing and why we should redefine the traditional misunderstanding in the investment world that women are not good investments. 

Impactful Women: A dialogue about Restorative Investing in community-based enterprises and the role of philanthropy, November 17, 2021

In this forum hosted by Angels of Impact, Laina Greene moderated a dialogue between leading investors on Restorative Investing, to discuss the importance of acknowledging and investing in businesses specifically helping alleviate poverty in disadvantaged communities.
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Panelists underscore the importance of not only flowing money to marginalized communities but also enabling these social entrepreneurs to be resilient and capable of creating sustainable change in their communities. Investing in these businesses involves goes beyond providing financial support, it needs to foster relationships based on trust and confidence. 

Leading Examples of Restorative Investing: Meet Those Who Walk the Talk, September 2021*

Moderated by Laina Greene, this session provides proof that investors need not always engage in extractive forms of investing to be successful in their ventures. These leading restorative investors showcase the benefits of redefining success in investing - and why it is important to stop thinking of high return on investments as the only form of success for investors.
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The panelists also highlight the importance of following the principles of community and character-based lending rather than just labelling methods as restorative investing or impact investing.

CBNE Value Chain Support: Green and Fair, June 2021

Organised by the Forest Harvest Forum, the panel discusses the importance of going back to nature and boosting sustainable businesses in an extractive world.

​Drawing from her experience at Angels of Impact, Laina Greene describes their journey as one that looks towards the indigenous community and their knowledge to create better sustainability in the world. Indigeneous business owners have always had the tools to create sustainable products and practices and it is our job to preserve these practices.

Restorative Investing for Racial Justice, April 20, 2021*

Moderated by Laina Greene, this session  discusses the importance of addressing and rectifying the racism and discrimination found in the traditional investing world. In the panel, indigenous brand Tanka Bar and its investors underscore the importance of investing in indigenous businesses to overcome the current system that overlooks marginalized communities. ​

Restorative Investing for a Just and Regenerative Economy, March 25, 2021

Regenerative economics is a system that does not follow the same extractive principles as traditional economics. Regenerative economics is intersectional as it not only focuses on the tangible aspects of regeneration but also the intangible aspects for indigeneous and developing communities. Panelists stress the importance of learning from the indigenous communities whose systems have always been regenerative in nature.

Moderated by Laina Greene, this session for the Edmund Hillary Fellowship highlights how the lens of impact investing does not provide enough depth and intersectionality to create real systemic change. 

Consequently, restorative investing must redefine the terms of traditional investment to remove extractive terms and conditions which perpetuate cycles of poverty for marginalized communities - a principle we hold at Angels of Impact.

Restorative Investing: A Framework for Racial Equity, February 17, 2021*

Laina Green moderates a talk about using restorative investing as a framework to create racial equity. The panelists underscore the importance of the JEDI framework (Justice, Equity, Diversity inclusion) when discussing restorative investing and how the deep-rooted extractive investment that creates gaps between different races must be replaced by restorative investing that addresses such gaps.
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At Angels of Impact, we work hard to bridge the funding bias by providing technical assistance, market access and capital to grassroots indigenous communities.

Restorative Finance for the NEXT Economy, January 6, 2021*

Laina Greene moderates a talk about the basics of Restorative Finance. She is joined by Nwamaka Agbo who first coined the term “Restorative economics”. Laina underscores the importance of acknowledging the existing extractive finance systems which are the root cause of discrimination in investing lenses. 
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At Angels of Impact, we focus on making finance accessible and available to marginalized women, who are unable to access traditional finance options because of the reasons discussed in this panel. As Nwamaka Agbo said, "there is no shortage of projects to get involved in" to push for restorative justice.

How A Women-Focused Social Impact Fund can help
To End Poverty

Laina Greene talks about championing women empowerment in this podcast with Be Your Change. 

​Laina explains a fundamental principle that motivates the work at Angels of Impact - the presence of people who "have done well for themselves" and are looking for a meaningful cause to accelerate rather than just donate to charity. 

Solution to End Poverty, TED x Singapore, October 2016

It is time to “start thinking of women as the solution to ending poverty.”  In this TEDxSingapore Women Conference, Laina Greene highlights an “unconscious bias” in funding that associates female-run businesses and the gap in funding for social entrepreneurship that tackles poverty because of the high cost of running the business and the inability to maximize profit.

She talks about being inspired by Prof. Muhammad Yunus’ Social Business Model  and the motivation behind the Angels of Impact's model of ending poverty through supporting female entrepreneurs.

* The Restorative Investing Task Force was set up to overcome systemic racism through restorative access to capital - to push for a Next Economy which is more just that the traditional economy. Laina Greene, CEO of Angels of Impact, is a co-leader and spearheader of this taskforce.