Welcome to Rahul Bhide!

Senior Associate, Economic Opportunity

Rahul, joining us June 6, was previously on the Strategy & Impact team at Omidyar Network India, assessing the impact of the portfolio, contributing to investment strategy, and supporting portfolio customer insights efforts. He has also spent time at a US fintech startup focusing on optimizing debt for American households and started his career in strategy consulting at Bain & Company. Rahul holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Chicago as well as an MBA from the Yale University School of Management.

Jessica's Purpose First Entrepreneur Story

Impact Engine CEO Jessica Droste Yagan was recently interviewed for Pete Wilkins' Purpose First Entrepreneur story series. "There’s lots of evidence in the market right now that making money and doing good don’t have to be separate," she says. "We have so many clear examples of companies that were started to solve an important problem and have gone on to be hugely successful and have gone public."

Podcast Interview: AllianceBernstein

"There's five levers to how a business can drive impact," Impact Engine Chief Investment Officer Priya Parrish says in a recent interview with AllianceBernstein's Women & Wealth podcast. "Those Ps are Product, Place, People, Process, and Paradigm. Our focus is on product-based impact." Listen to the full podcast episode for more about how Impact Engine focuses our investments.

What We’re Reading

Fast Company: Is private equity joining—or co-opting—the employee ownership movement?

Impact Engine Chief Investment Officer Priya Parrish writes:

"KKR made headlines last month when they exited CHI for over $3B, and a subset of employees earned an average of $175K. While this is a better payout than many employees get in leveraged buyouts, and should become regular practice amongst PE firms, it is only an incentive structure – not true ownership nor for everyone. In contrast, other PE firms are investing to create 100% employee owned firms that can meaningfully address wealth inequality. It is possible and investable."

Portfolio News

The Helper Bees is announcing a national request for information from service providers to help older adults living independently. “The ultimate goal is helping older adults maintain their independence,” said Char Hu, PhD, The Helper Bees CEO. And our company can’t do it alone. This is why we are such strong believers in the platform-based approach. By broadening out our already robust network, we will continue to transform aging-in-place in America.”

Matsmart is expanding its surplus food inventory sales from Sweden to the UK in June. The company, which offers "well-known products that would otherwise risk ending up in landfill," will operate under the name Motatos in the UK. The move coincides with research showing a 57% increase in British families reducing their food intake in response to recent inflation.

Measurabl has been named 2022 Energy Star Partner of the Year. This is the fourth year in a row the ESG management solution has been given the distinction for its efforts to make commercial buildings more energy efficient. US Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Regan says companies like Measurabl are "showing once again that taking action in support of a clean energy economy can be good not only for the environment, but also for business and customers.”

Wasoko has been named Africa's #1 fastest growing business by the Financial Times. Founder and CEO Daniel Yu says " With almost all of the $600B+ African informal retail sector still in front of us though there is a lot of work still to come. Twende kazi!" (Swahili for "Let's get to work!")