Most assessments of the impact investment sector cite a surplus of capital waiting in the wings while a shortage of investment opportunities continue to create obstacles to rapid growth of the sector. The challenge of identifying investment opportunities, local capacity service providers, and sound business models is symptomatic of a greater challenge: an information gap involving investors and local provider networks and the business ecosystem in developing countries. This challenge has led many organizations to launch market analysis and mapping initiatives to identify high value enterprises, quality service providers, and market-building opportunities. Philanthropists, NGOs and investors who once saw themselves as pioneers for Small and Growing Business (SGB) development are discovering that they are part of a broader investment ecosystem that lacks the coordinated market information to harness the full potential of impact investment. Assessing the SGB ecosystem is now a top priority of most serious institutions.
Unfortunately, most mapping and market analysis studies concentrate almost exclusively on gathering statistics and contacts akin to a �Yellow Pages,� which provide a picture of a market as a static system frozen in a particular moment in time. Without a clear understanding of all of the actors within the system and the resource flows between the actors, philanthropists, NGOs and investors still have only a limited view of the SGB ecosystem.
Root Change provides an innovative solution to address the ecosystem infrastructure challenges faced by the global impact investment sector. We have recently partnered with Lome Social Networks to design and develop a shared, web-based organizational network mapping platform called GIIMAP (Global Impact Investment Map). This dynamic online platform is the first ever to collaboratively map in real-time organizations and individuals working in the impact investment sector. These actors include small and growing businesses (SGBs) and social entrepreneurs, investors, foundations, technical and capacity support organizations, business development service providers, companies, government agencies, and academic institutions.
GIIMAP can be used to uncover and make explicit existing business networks, illuminate market dynamics, and identify key actors, such as resource hubs, network brokers, and influencers. This interactive technology creates a dynamic, easily understood, and constantly evolving representation of the impact investment ecosystem.
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GIIMAP offers the global impact investment community a revolutionary way to:
MAP and rapidly capture relationships and data on actors working in the impact investment ecosstem across countries and regions.
CONNECT actors and minimize duplication of efforts, improve coordination, and build the social capital of enterprises and organizations across sectors.
SCALE the impact of social businesses by promoting strategic high value partnerships and opportunities for capacity development, growth and investment.
SEED new ideas, and global resources, standards, impact metrics, and practices.
DIAGNOSE bottlenecks and gaps in the flow of information and resources and catalyze community-driven network strengthening interventions.
INFORM venture capitalists, investors, philanthropists, companies, and NGOs of the current social entrepreneurship landscape in emerging economies and of key, influential points of contact.
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Capacity Development Fund provided the first seed grant to develop and pilot the GIIMAP platform in Mexico and in Central America.In Mexico, Root Change partnered with an enthusiastic team of individuals and organizations working in the impact investment space to launch GIIMAP. These local actors provided additional resources to fund a project coordinator and customize the GIIMAP platform for Mexico. Ashoka Mexico and Central America, SpectronDessarollo, and other local partnersdeveloped in-depth GIIMAP profiles that enable more strategic investment and partnering in Mexico and Central America�s social entrepreneurship sector. Investors, SGBs, and other actors are able to securely share relevant information on their investment practices, services, and needs, through their profiles to facilitate discovery of potential investments and inform future collaboration. �
Root Change launched GIIMAP in Mexico in October 2012, and initiated mapping in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador in December 2012. The platform will continue to be rolled out to other Central American countries this year.
The real-time aspect of GIIMAP has revolutionized network mapping and allowed for rapid capture of relationships and data on the impact investment ecosystem.For both organizations and key leaders who hold a particular stake in building the global impact investment ecosystem and fostering an enabling environment for entrepreneurship, GIIMAP provides users with critical information on how to strategically build high impact partnerships, leverage opportunities for growth and investment, and seed new ideas, standards, and practices across the network in various regions.
How GIIMAP WorksScroll over the graphic to learn about how it works
Our PartnersOur Partners in Mexico
News and UpdatesMarch 18, 2013 Root Change Ventures is excited to announce our first investment with�Lome Social Networks, an innovative enterprise that had developed the groundbreaking online platform that powers GIIMAP, and maps in real-time relationships between individuals and organizations across social sectors.
February 23, 2013 GIIMAP was successfully showcased at the 2013 Latin American Forum for Impact Investment (LAFLII) in Merida, Mexico. To date, over 400 actors have been identified working together in the Impact Investment Sector in Mexico.
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