Emphasis on building awareness for success of impact investment 

Experts have observed that building awareness is critical to the success of impact investment in Bangladesh. 

They opined that impact investment is defined as investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. 

They made the observation at a daylong conference on ‘Impact inveStory’ held at Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) multipurpose Hall in Dhaka on Tuesday. 

The conference highlighted the implementation plan of the Bangladesh Impact Investment Strategy and Action Plan (BIISAP). 

The 'seeding fertile ground' for impact investment in Bangladesh, the National Advisory Board (NAB), gave the confidence to develop and publish the Bangladesh Impact Investment Strategy and Action Plan (BIISAP) in 2022 and host the international conference on Impact Investment - "Impact InveStory". 

Planning Minister MA Mannan attended the conference as the chief guest and launched the national strategy along with the NAB Bangladesh while BIDA Executive Chairman Md Sirazul Islam presided over the conference. 

In his speech, Mannan strongly acknowledged the inspiration and leadership role played by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in supporting the concept of Impact Investment, who launched the first Impact Investment campaign for Bangladesh at a side event in New York at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2017. 

Among others, Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam spoke on the occasion.  

The NAB Chair acknowledged the contributions made by the Embassy of Switzerland from day one of this movement, not only as a member of the National Advisory Board but also as the key sponsor to develop this National Strategy and Action Plan.