Human connection and empathy is the way to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), say Latin American social investment experts, ahead of next week’s impact investment event FLII Connect 2024 in Mexico.

The 14th convention of FLII Connect, tagged: Transforming LATAM through humanity, empathy, and impact investment, seeks to inspire investors to develop more connection with people and environment and to use technology to meet the SDGs.

The three day event, created by Latin American social enterprise support organisation New Ventures takes place in Merida, Mexico from 27 – 29 February 2024 and has a global focus. There will also be food from Miryam Peraza, from the Netflix show the Taco Chronicles.

Exploring financial inclusion in Latin America

This year’s sessions at the social investment convention include those exploring the commitment of banks to financial inclusion in Latin America. Sessions will address gender inequalities with a care lens, using green finance to explore opportunities in the Amazon and examining how family offices can accelerate impact for the SDGs.

The conference team and delegates get together at FLII 2023

‘We want to establish an environment where each person is recognised, heard, and cherished in order to develop impact strategies,’ says spokesperson Sylvia Rugeles.

‘We want to inspire a symbiotic relationship with nature and humanity, empowering sustainable practices and using technical innovation ethically, based on human need.’

Rugeles added: ‘This event is very vibrant. The venues are spectacular and there will be one full day at an original beautiful Yucatecan Hacienda where delegates can attend workshops as well as do yoga, taste Yucatecan food.’

Creating powerful impact investment partnerships

FLII has created numerous connections in the social impact investment sphere. Examples include IDB Lab and Ethic Hub: the innovation and venture capital arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB) invested in Ethic Hub (which offers regenerative finance for unbanked farmers) after meeting representatives of the organisation at FLII.

The same happened with Engie, a global energy company who invested in Ilumexico (a social enterprise solar energy company), Herdez – a leading Mexican food company with Aires del Campo (retailer and promoter of organic foods) and Merck (German technology company) with Mamotest (AI diagnosis of breast cancer based in Argentina).

Carolina Puerta, CEO of the forum, said such events inspire new investment in society: ‘It’s the connection we need…so we convene to connect with others as human beings. You can become friends, and then you can do business. We connect with each other as humans who want to see a better world.’

Finding social investment partners

The FLII sees around 800 attendees: about 35 percent market builders, 34 percent investors and 31 percent entrepreneurs. Last year, measured through Brella, an AI Powered matchmaking app, there were 3631 networking matches between attendees, 2152 investment matches, 1341 mentoring matches, 277 recruitment matches and 1011 trading matches.

Some examples include PuntoRed’s founders meeting their new chief financial officer at the event, The Coca Cola Foundation partnering with ProMujer (an organisation advancing gender equality). And the founding of a new collaboration between Linked Foundation, Halloran Philanthropies, Visa Foundation, ProMujer, New Ventures and The Case for Her.

Claudia Cahalane in Investments Editor for Alliance