Program speakers

Dureen Shahnaz

Prof. Durreen Shahnaz is a pioneer in impact investing and the founder of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX). IIX connects the Back Streets of underserved communities to the Wall Streets of the world and has unlocked close to US$300 million of capital impacting over 150 million lives and promoting climate action across the globe. Prof. Shahnaz’s work has broken traditional molds of financial power dynamics with the founding of the world’s first social stock exchange, the world’s first gender bonds, and connecting women’s voices from the last mile to financial markets.
Her work of connecting and equalizing the power dynamics of the Global North and the Global South has given her unique insights and perspective. She has also written a book related to the subject of inclusion and equity called The Defiant Optimist. Find out more and pre-order the book at www.defiantoptimist.com.

About Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) is the pioneer in the impact investing movement and a global leader in sustainability. We have transformed the financial system so that women, the environment and underserved communities are finally given a value and a voice in the global market. Over the past decade, we have built the world’s largest crowdfunding platform for impact investing (Impact Partners), operated award-winning enterprise technical assistance programs such as IIX ACTS, created innovative financial products such as the Women’s Livelihood Bond™ Series and established an Impact Institute and Research & Advisory to build the sustainable investing market. To date, our work has spanned 53 countries, unlocked US$281 million of private-sector capital, positively impacted over 159 million direct and household lives, and avoided over 1.83 million tons of carbon. The foundation of IIX’s work is IIX Values™, an innovative impact verification solution for every organization, which effectively measures the social and environmental impact of an investment and gives value to the voices of the underserved. In 2022, IIX launched the Orange Bond Initiative™ to unlock $10 billion in the capital markets by 2030 and impact 100 million women in the last mile. The recent issuance of the Women’s Livelihood Bond™ 5 is now officially listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as the world’s first Orange Bond. IIX’s numerous awards for its work include the Oslo Business for Peace Award, the P4G State-of-the-art Partnership award, the UN Global Climate Action Award and most recently the Environmental Finance’s Award for Innovation.