Summer of 2011

Summer of 2011 has the potential to be a big turning point in my life.

I'm interning at Calvert special equities, learning about Impact Investing.  Impact Investing describes investment activities that seeks positive social / environment impact as well as financial return.  It is the concept of "doing good and doing well".  The tag line I came up on Saturday was "Impact Investors help social entrepreneurs to solve some of the world's biggest and hardest problems".  Impact Investing is also about investing for the future, its more than a new asset class, it is an investment philosophy and philosophy of life.

I want to record my own personal journey on discovering and exploring this industry and grappling with some of the key questions and challenges along the way.  I also want this blog to act as a forum for my friends who are working or interested in the industry, sharing resources and reflections.  Someone I was talking to today said the good thing about this industry is its strong support network. Because the industry is so new and trying to establish it self, everyone wants everyone else to succeed. Because one success story goes along way to explain the industry to outsiders and cynics. And there are a lot of cynics, myself included.

The article by Paul Hawkins is very inspirational and explains why one needs to look for and create more values in life than just financial returns.  The quote below deals with cynics like me.

"The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it."