Third Impact for Breakfast in Baku
The 3rd “Impact for breakfast” organised by Education HUB took place within the “Impact Day” on December 12th in Baku. The main purpose of the meeting was to inform about impact investments and share the experiences of other countries in this field. Impact investments are investments made with the intention of creating a positive, measurable social and environmental impact in addition to a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets. A growing impact investment market provides capital to address the world’s most pressing challenges in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, conservation, microfinance and affordable and accessible basic services including housing, health and education.
Gulnara Ismailova, Program Manager of Education HUB, opened the event with an introduction, greeted the participants and informed about the “Impact Day” implemented in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Azerbaijan. During his speech, Mr. Doron Pe’er, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy, emphasised the importance of the event and noted that after participating in the first “Impact for breakfast”, they expressed their interest in joint cooperation in this new concept. “And that’s it, today we act as a partner in the “Impact Day” events.”
The invited expert from Israel – Mrs. Omri Boral, the founder of IMagine IMpact, spoke and shared the Israeli experience on “Impact investment”:
“I came here today not to teach, but to learn in a mutual way. As you know, Israel is one of the best in the world in the field of start-ups, and we as a country are moving towards impact investing, and mutual learning in this area is very important.”
Mrs. Ilayda Aydin, the representative of the UN policy center in Turkey, gave a speech on the topic “Research of the impact investment ecosystem and SDG investment map”, shared the experience of Turkey and demonstrated the SDG investment map. She mentioned that
“Currently, work is underway on the development of the SDG investment map for Azerbaijan, and research materials and recommendations will be presented to the general public next year.”
Gulnara Aslanbeyli, the executive director of the AMCHAM, and Jeyhun Atayev, the head of AccessBank’s “Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement Department”, shared their experiences from the “Impact Week” they participated in Brussels as part of the “Collaborate for Impact” program in December.
As part of the “Impact Day”, a session called “Impact Growth Day” was organised for the first time in Azerbaijan for Social Entrepreneurs and start-ups. Omri Boral, an expert invited from Israel, spoke at the event, which was held in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Azerbaijan. About 30 Social Entrepreneurs and start-ups who participated in the event shared their Israeli experience and informed about investment opportunities. She also announced opportunities for cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan.