Suzy Cameron

FALL 2021 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 81 Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, and economist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. “The biggest bottleneck preventing low- income consumers from accessing safe water and sanitation is access to affordable financing,” says White, who has worked for more than 30 years on water development issues. “We realized that families could be healthier, more productive, even better educated if they could access small, affordable loans to finance taps, toilets, and other lasting improvements.” The solution White and Damon created, WaterCredit, has catalyzed water access for millions. Together with 154 partners worldwide, WaterCredit has helped mobilize 8 million loans worth $2.9 billion in capital to support small loans that bring access to safe water and sanitation to millions of people in need. And those loans are paid back at a phenomenal rate of 99%. Every repaid loan can be lent to another family in need of safe water or sanitation. “Access to water is access to education, access to work, access above all to the kind of future we want for our own families and all the members of our human family,” says Damon. “You cannot solve poverty without solving water and sanitation.” In 2017, Damon and White expanded their impact with WaterEquity, the first-ever asset manager exclusively focused on solving the global water crisis. WaterEquity is laser- focused on the $18 billion market demand from individuals for affordable financing to meet their water and sanitation needs. The potential payoff is immense, especially for women. In high-growth economies, demand for water and sanitation creates extraordinary opportunities. For example, when girls no longer have to spend time collecting water, they can attend school. And, for every year a girl stays in school, her income can increase by 15–25%. Experts also estimate that with safe water and sanitation, women can participate fully in economic activity. When the majority of women work, global GDP is projected to rise by $28 trillion. WaterEquity’s Global Access Fund is raising $150 million and investing in high-performing financial institutions with water, sanitation, and hygiene microloan portfolios across East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and Africa. The fund aims to reach 5 million people directly and an additional 3 million people indirectly with improved water and sanitation access. About 60% of targeted microloan recipients will be women, and 100% of those benefiting from the loans will be living in poverty. Impact investors are embracing the WaterEquity model, liking both the deep, catalytic impact and the competitive market-rate returns. WaterEquity has already secured $125 million in commitments toward its first close with investors such as Bank of America, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Skoll Foundation, and the single-family office Ceniarth. They are also partnering with donor-advised funds like ImpactAssets to reach investors who want water and sanitation as a thematic investment. “Donor-advised funds hold great potential as a blended capital approach to raising funds needed to help solve this crisis— bringing together philanthropic capital and private debt and equity to help further our work of expanding affordable access to water and sanitation solutions for millions of low-income families around the globe,” says White. But the biggest return on investment may be what Damon and White have seen many times on research trips to see their work in action. “When you see the difference that water can make in a community — that feeling of pure joy — there’s nothing that can compete with that in my day job,” says Damon. n Amy Bennett is chief marketing officer at ImpactAssets. WATER.ORG / BENJAMIN HEATH

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