I completed my summer internship at iThink VC, a Paraguay-based Latin American venture capital firm. The organization invests in companies in Spanish-speaking Latin America that use technology to address structural problems in the region. The fund also prioritizes younger ecosystems, such as those in Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Peru. The organization’s mission is to expand the access and affordability of essential services, inclusion of underserved segments, markets and population and drive sustainable and regenerative technologies to people and the planet.

I supported the fundraising process of their first fund, screened and conducted due diligence on 50+ startups, and developed the impact strategy and framework after conducting extensive study on impact management for both internal and external communications. All of the businesses in the portfolio have also been given access to this strategy and effect assessment and management tool for their analysis, understanding, and implementation, which will be the first step in determining the impact of the fund.

Most of the skills needed for my tasks revolved around strong research skills developed at SIPA and financial knowledge and excel skills that I gained from my previous work experience. I used the knowledge gained from different DP courses such as Sustainable Development Policy and Practice, Universal Food Security, Development Practice Lab, Decision Models and Management, and SUMA’s Accounting, Finance, and Sustainable Investments. In practice, I used my program management skills and stakeholder engagement experience to navigate client relationships. Something that I have done to get ahead of this is having candid conversations with iThink’s general partners, key stakeholders in the startup ecosystem in different countries and government officials. I also based my research on the risks inherent with each of the industries the company invests in on the knowledge I gained from Lisa Sach's Extractive Industries course.

Since iThink invests in businesses that are still in the very early stages, few of their investments included an impact management approach. This presented a significant challenge because I had to develop sustainability-related onboarding materials for each of them (representing eight different sectors), develop an impact strategy and define, analyze, manage and measure impact indicators. This is a significant issue because not all businesses are aware that improving their impact performance would also improve their financial success. Additionally, they are primarily concerned with surviving in the market and less with the impact they are simultaneously creating because it is difficult to assess. On the other hand, because there are so many resources that a fund or business might employ for its impact strategy, I initially found the global impact measurement standards' breadth and ambiguity to be overwhelming and misleading since I didn’t have experience in this field.

More than I anticipated, my summer experience was eye-opening. I'll be returning to SIPA with fresh knowledge and abilities I didn't anticipate gaining in such a short period of time. I discovered what and how entrepreneurs are defining and bridging the gaps in every sector using technology. I also developed a thorough awareness of what government and multilateral organizations are doing to advance sustainability objectives and the startup ecosystem. The variety of impact frameworks and management techniques that funds employ to evaluate and manage their impact inside their investments was the most useful information I took away. However, the completion of the impact strategy and excel management tool for the fund, which will be used to decide which businesses to invest in and efficiently manage their impact, was my greatest achievement.

To sum up, I discovered how important it is to approach sustainable development from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Finding a "sweet-spot" in the middle of their financial, environmental, and social goals is possible even though it is difficult to match everyone's interests. This is possible if you comprehend each group's position. Development is a complex and multifaceted area; hence it requires participation from several sectors in order to be effective and accountable. I learned the importance of having an effective, collaborative, decision-making leader in each sector to challenge pre-existing power structures to facilitate and find the mentioned “sweet-spot” between all stakeholders and effectively advance through sustainable development.