Impact investing is growing fast. According to the latest numbers by trade body GIIN, impact investments globally amount to around $500bn.
However not much is focused on ageing. In a similar fashion to foundations in the US, where just 2% of funding is focused on older adults, very few impact investing categories include aging. The 2017 GIIN report that tracks impact investing globally, tracks the impact investing dollars to the UN SDGs, and work, cities, climate and poverty attract the most amount of impact dollars:
Ageing integral to the SDGs. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs looks at ageing in the context of the SDGs and notes that they appear in the following six Goals: poverty eradication, good health, gender equality, economic growth and decent work, reduced inequalities and sustainable cities. This is how it should be – the last thing we need is more silos carving out ageing as something separate, and as the report points out, this would itself not be helpful for promoting an integrated society.
Key opportunity areas for investors in ageing. That being said, where should an impact investor interested in making a difference in ageing focus? Based on what i’m seeing in terms of the need in the market combined with quality deals (and because I find it impossible to put down a list without making it into an acronym or alliteration), here are three categories: habitats, health and happiness. They are in many ways a condensed version of the Aging2.0 Grand Challenges.
- Habitats & Housing: The built environment and new models of smart, safe, sustainable housing.
- Health, Care & Wellness: Prevention, family and professional caregiving, care navigation and management, dementia, end-of-life.
- Happiness, Purpose & Contribution: Jobs and later life employment, volunteering & skill sharing, financial planning and wellness.. .
What’s next? Quantifying missions and impacts. In order to make meaningful impacts on these themes we’ll need to dive into individual companies working in these areas and measure what success looks like to them individually and collectively. What will it look like when we have achieved a moonshot in each of these areas and what are the metrics of success? These will be explored in future posts.
