The Transformative 25
As foundations and mission-aligned investors swiftly shift their investments into ESG screened funds and direct investments in values-aligned companies and entrepreneurs, they overlook many visionary funds and fund managers who are forging the future that we need. These funds are myth-busters and courageous innovations. More than rethinking our financial system, they are creating viable alternatives to investing in people and planet for generations to come.
What funds are transforming finance for people and planet?
Reimagining the Artisan Sector
The artisan sector is the second-largest employer in the developing world after agriculture, worth over $32 billion every year according to the Artisan Alliance. Artisan activity creates jobs, increases local incomes, and preserves cultural traditions that in many places are at risk of being lost. Over 65% of artisan activity takes place in developing economies.
The majority of artisans are small producers – often women – working informally which too often means this is an overlooked, undervalued and underfunded economic sector with still untapped potential.
Reimagining the Potential of the Artisan Sector
In the spring of 2020 as shut downs were imposed to manage the outbreak of the coronavirus, artisan enterprises were severely impacted by canceled production orders, workshop closures, limited availability of raw materials and skyrocketing transportation costs. As these and other economic dislocations impacted our partners as well as our own operations, we needed to adjust and assess what we could do to alleviate the disruption both in the near term and for an uncertain future.