What if the biggest obstacle to channeling billions of dollars in private finance into global development isn’t investor reluctance, but rather a broken information ecosystem?
That was the diagnosis from Manfred Schepers, CEO of the ILX Fund, speaking at Casa Devex on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla, Spain, this week. ILX Fund is an asset manager that invests for impact in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and climate-focused private debt in emerging markets.
“Investment is about data. It’s not about belief,” Schepers said, pointing to a systemic gap in both the availability and comparability of financial risk and return data from development finance and private markets. Without fixing this, he argued, the trillions in global pension and sovereign wealth funds will remain disconnected from development priorities.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
