EYDK’s Roundtable Event II to focus on the sustainable development goals and the way forward
The Impact Investing Platform (EYDK), which was established with the aim of making impact investment a mainstream investment model in Turkey, held the second roundtable and assessed the following actions to be taken in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Impact Investment Advisory Board (EYDK) is founded with the aim of making impact investing a mainstream investing model in Turkey while establishing and bringing important actors included both international and internal partnerships. The board has held a series of rountables to identify the steps to take so as to attain UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
EYDK, in line with this objective, had conducted a survey on the impact investment potential of the members and compatibility of the SDGs and held the first roundtable event with the theme “Where are we at SDGs?”.
EYDK Roundtable Event II aims to reveal the further steps to be followed after the first roundtable meeting. The survey, which guides roundtables, focused on the key elements of impact investing. The takeaway; intentionality is modestly present, but the lack of a national impact management framework acts as a bottleneck. Still, competence at impact measurement was not identified as a major challenge of the local ecosystem. Thinking on this inconsistency and building on the first roundtable findings are essential.
On August 24th, 2021, the second roundtable meeting was completed to reach the following objectives:
- Elaborate on the current state of the elements of impact investing in Turkey in relation to the nurturing actions prioritized by EYDK members and compare notes with the first roundtable’s more generalized outcomes.
- Discuss the inconsistency between the prioritized actions for nurturing the key elements of impact investing and the major challenges in the local ecosystem and compare notes with the first roundtable’s more generalized outcomes.
The roundtable hosted the following speakers: Cem Baytok, idacapital, Managing Partner; Fatma Çınar, Participation Banks Association of Turkey, International Relations and Corporate Communication Manager; Gülçin Salıngan, Deputy Director of the UNDP IICPSD; Hale Özsoy Bıyıklı, Director, Turkven Private Equity (Turkven); Meral Murathan Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB), Executive, Vice President; and Nazlı Çakıroğlu Boysan, Garanti BBVA, Responsible Business Senior Manager.
Şafak Müderrisgil, the President of EYDK, stated that “Competence at impact measurement and management is indispensable. This field is still globally young and Turkey can attain a competitive advantage by moving in fast. Once the country establishes itself in the field, mobilizing capital through innovative funds and instruments would be less of a challenge.”
Roundtable speakers highlighted the importance of impact intentionality and having widespread awareness but also stated that without proper impact measurement and management, these would not be enough for Turkey to reach its full potential. Mutually accepted assessment tools, removing the ambiguities in social and environmental targets, strong cooperation both at national and global levels, clever management of resources by prioritizing the right aspects have all been mentioned. Storytelling also emerged as a repeated theme, as spreading “Turkey’s impact story” to generate investor interest is highly valued as long as it is based on strategic fields.
EYDK is a bridge for achieving all of these goals. Global capital is focusing more and more on impact investing and Turkey should be ready to attract this capital through its banking sector, private equity firms, venture capital funds, impact entrepreneurs, enablers and policymakers.
Hale Özsoy, Director, Turkven Private Equity (Turkven)
“Accessing to capital at reasonable rates and having innovative funds are all necessary but these cannot be achieved without establishing impact measurement and management in Turkey”.
Fatma Çınar, International Relations and Corporate Communication Manager of the Participation Banks Association of Turkey of TKBB:
“Continuing to invite the relevant national and international institutions to EYDK would strengthen the knowledge base and network”.
Gülçin Salıngan, Deputy Director of UNDP IICPSD:
“With the right infrastructure, Turkey could become a catalytic entry-point for impact investing to capitalize on the potential of MENA and Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions”.
Cem Baytok, Managing Partner of idacapital:
“There are two ways to attract impact capital to Turkey; focusing on our country-specific challenges for differentiation and creating local investor capacity through know-how accumulation and development finance.”
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