In this article about impact investment, I will share what I have learned from working with two investment funds in Africa. I have written this article about my personal experiences to help counterbalance the academic material on this subject. It is aimed at readers who are interested in impact investment but don’t have any firsthand experience.

This article began as a private reflection in my journal one Saturday morning in October 2020, as I sat outside at a local coffee shop. It has since grown significantly.

I have been increasingly working with impact investment funds around Africa, and with organizations that are trying to become ‘investment ready’.

As part of this work, I have assessed the applications of over a hundred organizations and conducted due diligence on several.

I have noticed how many organizations make the same pattern of mistakes in their applications. These tend to downgrade their ratings, even when their proposed business venture might be good.

This inspired me to write this article and share 10 recommendations for how to prepare a winning application.

I hope that this will help organizations to submit better applications to impact investment funds in future.