Creating.Catalyzing.Connecting

F4C is a leadership program launched early 2016 in cooperation with the Impact Hub Berlin to make the nascent field of impact oriented investing and social finance accessible to a wider audience in both the D-A-CH region and internationally. F4C offerings included the implementation of Finance for Change Bootcamp between 2016 and 2017.

Supporting the UK innovation agency Nesta with designing and conducting a comprehensive piece of research on how foundations and other innovation funders fund and support innovation. The focus is on the role of learning, risk taking and failure and we specifically look at innovation funders in developing and emerging countries.

A publication will be out soon.

Advised Danida, the Danish Development Agency on options to mobilise private sector capital for sustainable development. The work included a recap of the current discussion of key concepts in impact investing and innovative finance, an identification of critical issues based on a literature review, stakeholder interviews in Europe, the US and emerging markets and a review of more than 20 blended finance vehicles.

The report is available here and the annexes including fact sheets for various blended finance investment vehicles can be downloaded here.

Inclusive Business involve low income communities in the value chain. With our colleagues at Endeva we were commissioned by GIZ, the German Government Agency to explores demand by governments in Indonesia and Columbia for GIZ support to assist with developing inclusive business policies.

The Turkish presidency of the G20 in 2015 identified Inclusive Business Policies as a priority topic for its Development Working Group. IFC and UNDP have been tasked by the G20 to lead on the development of a Framework on Inclusive Business Policies that can guide further actions. We were commissioned to support the consulting team led by our colleagues at Endeva to support the development of the framework. The Framework has been adopted as part of the G20 presidency in 2014.

The G20 Inclusive Business Framework can be accessed here.

As Fellow of the German Mercator Foundation and the American Rockefeller Foundation at the Istanbul Policy Center at Sabanci University Turkey led the first major research project in Turkey on social entrepreneurship and social investment. The work included a major social and green entrepreneurship survey; the testing of potential investors’ interest (business angels, commercial banks, Islamic finance institutions, PE/VC funds, foundations etc) in various social investment scenarios; identification on necessary conditions by international impact investment firms and funds for engaging in Turkey; the review of legal framework; the development of options for engagement by government and other market builders; the convening of Turkey's first international impact investing conference in cooperation with UNDP.

The results of the research were documented and shared in various publications, newspaper articles and blogs, which can be accessed here.

Developed, designed and managed a training, mentoring and co-investment program for impact entrepreneurs, social businesses, intermediaries, social investors in Turkey supported by JP Morgan Chase Foundation. Co-trainer in 3 day social investment training with a panel of highly recognized international social investment and impact measurement experts.

The project aim was to identify innovative options to channel sustainable investment finance to an economically underdevelopment region in Kenya. Work included a review of financial service providers, their products and technologies to identify market gaps; the implementation of an enterprise survey to identify market needs for new financial and non-financial support; a review of international experience in public venture capital, investment fund design and management of funds for social impact; the development of an initial deal pipeline, advice on fund design options, a fund investment strategy and testing of investor interest.

A project report can be downloaded here.

Anja-Nadine Koenig is a social investment and development professional passionate about entrepreneurial and innovative financing solutions for impact and social development. She enjoys creating cross-sectoral strategies, catalyzing new ideas and connecting individuals and organization for greater impact.

She is the lead of Finance for Change, a leadership program established in cooperation with the Impact Hub Berlin. Until 2014 she was Program Director of the the Social Investment Program supported by JP Morgan Chase Foundation and 2012/2013 fellow of the Mercator Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation (Impact Investing Policy Collaborative) in Istanbul/Turkey. Between 2007-2010 she worked on various assignments on behalf of governments, development finance institutions and companies in East Africa and represented KfW, the German Development Bank in the oversight committee a USD 1bn Multi-Donor Trust Fund in Southern Sudan. In Kenya, she also worked as financial analyst with Financial Advisory Services of PricewaterhouseCoopers Kenya and as resident policy advisor to the Kenya government with the German Development Agency GIZ. She was also part of an economic consulting company in London/UK focusing on public-private partnership and regulatory work in the UK and in emerging countries worldwide. Since 1999 her work has taken her to various countries in Africa, CEE, MENA, Asia and Latin America.

Anja is jury member of start social, a government program to support social engagement in Germany and member of the UNDP led African Impact Investment Task Force to kick off the African Impact Investment Plan in 2016.

She holds a MBA (University of Mannheim, Germany), a degree in Political Science and Economics (IEP “Science Po”, Paris France) and a post Master degree in Development Studies (German Development Institute).

She speaks German (native), English, French at professional level as well as Portuguese and Turkish as intermediate level. She is now based in Berlin, after living in London (UK), Nairobi (Kenya) and Istanbul (Turkey) as a long term resident for a total of 13 years.