GDI-incubated Refugee Investment Network takes center stage at #SOCAP18

This year’s SOCAP was especially exciting for GDI, as we announced the Refugee Investment Network (RIN), the first impact investing and blended finance collaborative dedicated to creating long-term solutions to global forced migration. John Kluge, founder and managing director of the RIN, told Bloomberg this month, “[We’re] setting out to prove to the broader investment community that refugees and displaced communities are in fact highly investable and that there’s really a business and investment case here beyond just the humanitarian appeal. They’re incredible entrepreneurs.

Along with the announcement, the RIN released its first report, “Paradigm Shift: How Investment Can Unlock the Potential of Refugees,” offering impact investors, grant-makers, and development finance professionals the first landscape of the what, why, who, where, and most importantly, how, of investing in and with displaced people.

At SOCAP, the RIN also announced that it had secured over $200 million in commitments from organizations across the capital and enterprise continuum including Amplio Ventures, Kiva, TerraBlanca Impact Capital, SEAF, Ascend Venture Fund, 17 Asset Management, Post Road Foundation, and 51 Labs.

As the RIN’s incubation partner, GDI will continue to provide strategic, operational, and strategic communications support for the RIN as the initiative moves towards an official launch in 2019.