IMPACT INVESTMENTS DEBRA SCHWARTZ FULL
IMPACT INVESTMENTS DEBRA SCHWARTZ SOFTWARE

It’s called the Catalytic Capital Consortium, and I invite you to our website to learn more about that. Our investment in Impact America is part of an initiative that we launched last spring. I think it actually makes MacArthur the largest investor in the new fund. Recently we were fortunate enough to be able to make an investment in Impact America. This is what led us to make Impact Investments starting almost 40 years ago. We believe that it’s key to creating a more just world, to expanding opportunities, unleashing innovation, and powering all people with the financial resources that they need to thrive. We are dedicated to trying to bridge these kinds of capital gaps. Those conventional sources of financing fail to reach or meet the needs of our communities and particularly communities of color, individuals and non-profits as well as entrepreneurs. Too often, the capital that’s provided by the conventional banks and investors. One of those inequalities is really all about capital. What that means to us is that we need to reverse the inequalities that exist across society in our world. MacArthur’s mission, if you listen to public radio, you might know, is to create a more just, verdant and peaceful world. We’re a private charitable foundation, headquartered in Chicago, and I am really pleased and proud and excited to be here with Kesha and Diishan for this conversation. I’m the managing director for Impact Investments at the MacArthur Foundation. And we’re trying to find new ways of developing systems that would allow us to not only invest in a way that creates financial returns, but also creates social impact for the communities that we care about.ĭebra Schwartz: Thanks, Kesha. We sit at this intersection of venture capital, access to capital - my background is from Wall Street - so capital markets and the community. What we mean by Main Street are small businesses, consumers, and workers, and we’re very much focused on low and moderate income communities.

IMPACT INVESTMENTS DEBRA SCHWARTZ SOFTWARE

Impact America Fund focuses on investing in software and tech-driven solutions that are empowering Main Street. I am the founder and general partner of Impact America Fund and a proud investor in Mayvenn.

Thank you all for attending this virtual conference, and I’m glad that we can continue the momentum during this time. We have paid out over $25 million in commissions and new bookings for stylists. We’ve generated over $125 million of revenue in the past six years. We’ve built a technology platform that empowers stylists to both sell products and earn commissions from them without them having to buy and hold and manage inventory, as well as built a marketplace technology on top of that that also helps customers find our stylists and book them. 95% of Black hair salons don’t retail any products. I started this business because I had hairstylists in my family, and I noticed that by and large, we were missing out on all of the economic opportunity in the sale of all of the products associated with the hair salon. The mission of the company is to financially empower African-American hairstylists.

I guess I’m kicking it off and just sort of introducing myself and the company. Watch Putting Capital to Work for People, a SPECTRUM20 Virtual Videoĭiishan Imira: Good morning.

IMPACT INVESTMENTS DEBRA SCHWARTZ FULL

Watch the full session or read the transcript below.

Debra Schwartz, Managing Director for Impact Investments at the MacArthur Foundation.

Kesha Cash, Founder and General Partner of Impact America Fund.

Diishan Imira, Founder and CEO of Mayvenn.

Representatives from each joined the conversation: This SPECTRUM session focuses on the ways investors and entrepreneurs can connect to make a positive social impact, highlighting a collaboration between the MacArthur Foundation, the Impact America Fund, and Mayvenn to support Black hairstylists. That is what impact investing should be about at its core.” “It cannot just be aiming for profit alone. “We need capital that aims for justice,” said Debra Schwartz, Managing Director for Impact Investments at the MacArthur Foundation. In recent years, the impact economy has been allocating money and resources to communities of color in an effort to help rectify systemic inequalities. When deployed with intention, capital can positively transform the lives of people who have traditionally been exploited by the dominant economic system. Putting Capital to Work for People: Creating Value and Advancing Justice Through Capital Collaborations

Impact investments debra schwartz