India

Pierre Omidyar, whose Omidyar Network is a founding member of the GIIN Investors' Council, writes in this guest column about the Omidyar Network's approach to financing social and environmental businesses that can accelerate India's economic development.

From original article:

"We also hope to have a catalytic effect with our investments. This implies a focus on investments or grants at organizational inflection points, when financial resources and professional expertise will have the most impact in helping an enterprise grow. Typically, this means companies with a proven model and demonstration of social impact, supported by a strong management team. Success is judged by how many people's lives each organization is impacting and to what extent. This evaluation system is imperfect, but we believe it's a good indicator of the type of impact we want to see in the world.

"Our hope is that this type of impact investing can play an important role in India's development by supporting innovative organizations that foster economic, political and social advancement for all Indians."