Pangaea Impact Investments

What type of social impact are we seeking?

 

Some investors would argue that all their investments, in public and private companies, provide a positive social impact through the jobs they create and the products and services they deliver. We believe that social impact needs to be more than a by-product - there needs to be clear and measurable intent.

 

The Case Foundation (2015) highlight that there are two potential sources of social impact. Firstly, social impact can be created through the product or service a social enterprise delivers – called ‘Product Impact’. Examples include providing anti-malaria bed nets and clean water in emerging markets and affordable literacy support services in early childhood education in developed markets.

 

Alternatively, social impact can be created through the management practices of an organisation, where such practices aim to address specific social issues. This is called ‘Operational Impact’. For example, Greyston Bakery in New York employs people from disadvantaged backgrounds to give them the employment, skills and resources to lift them out of poverty. This is captured by the company’s slogan: “We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire people”.

 

At Pangaea, we invest in social enterprises that deliver product impact, operational impact or, ideally, both. Given our background, we believe we can add most value to social enterprises that are trying to tackle the following social challenges:

 

• Improving our primary and secondary education systems
  Over the last decade, our education system has experienced significant declines in performance compared with other OECD countries. Our education system is struggling to provide students with the critical knowledge, skills and behavioural competencies required for the jobs of the future.
   

• Improving early childhood education and nutrition
  85% of brain development occurs in the first five years. Research now clearly shows the link between early childhood development and success in school and life. Beyond the social benefits, the macro-economic benefits of early childhood education and nutrition are hugely significant. 
   

• Addressing adult literacy and numeracy
  More than 1 million Australian adults do not have sufficient numeracy skills to function within society, while over 600,000 lack basic literacy skills. Lacking these skills is a major barrier to economic empowerment, prospertity and social inclusion.
   

• Increasing accessibility to education and training for adults
  40% of entry-level jobs are set to be displaced by automation by 2030. Economists agree that "skills-biased technological change" is a dominant driver of growing inequality and generates significant economic and social costs.

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We are also passionate about:

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• Accelerating employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups

• Addressing health and disease within indigenous communities