Welcome to 20/30 Visions, a new Bridges series in which we ask experts and thought-leaders from around the globe: what needs to change if we want to build a more sustainable and inclusive future in the next decade? And how do we make that change happen?

It’s clear that we cannot build a more sustainable and inclusive world without substantial investment in emerging markets – not only because of the need to improve access to services and opportunities for low and middle-income consumers, but also because many of these countries are on the front line of some of the planet’s biggest environmental threats. Impact investing can help to direct capital towards these challenges – but in most of these markets, the sector remains small and nascent. So how do we scale it up?

To discuss this, we’re joined by Daniel Izzo, co-founder of Brazil-based VOX Capital. VOX has been a real pioneer of impact investing in Brazil over the last decade, focusing primarily (and very successfully) on the venture capital space. However in recent years it has been expanding its platform across other asset classes – in response to both the range of the challenges in Brazil, and also the urgent need to attract more capital into impact.

Given VOX’s pioneering role in Brazil, Daniel is ideally placed to assess the challenges – and the opportunities – of scaling up impact investment in emerging markets. In our interview, he discusses:

• Overcoming investor scepticism in a nascent market
• The importance of good impact stories
• Why VOX is expanding into new asset classes
• The compromises needed to attract retail investors
• The influence of politics
• Investing in the resilience of local systems
• And more

Watch our conversation here:

Or you can download Daniel’s insights to read as a PDF here