<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW Hosts Impact Investing Luncheon in Utah</h1>Last week, two of RENEW’s partners traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet with local business and community leaders. While visiting, the RENEW team hosted a luncheon to discuss impact investing, angel investing and the U.S. government’s policies and viewpoints on Africa’s private sector.The luncheon opened with a<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_2_2_c8b88d3cee.jpg"></figure> greeting from Matt Davis, founder and CEO of RENEW, after which he introduced the event’s honored guest, Devin Thorpe. Devin is an <a href="http://devinthorpe.com/author">author</a> and advisor based in Utah who focuses on helping individuals who are “doing good” in the world. He calls himself a "champion of social good”, and as a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/">Forbes</a> contributor, he covers stories regarding social entrepreneurship and impact investing. During the luncheon, Devin shared his own personal viewpoint on impact investing and how it relates to Utah.For Devin, it’s an exciting and dynamic space to be in because “people with old investment strategies are joining the impact investing movement, and new money is actually coming in to the field.” This space now not only includes the individual investor, but family offices, foundations and institutional investors as well.Matt closed the event by challenging the group to think differently about Africa, as it has moved beyond the image that many of us typically think of when hearing the word, and by speaking about the power of business to achieve a greater good. Overall, it was an encouraging and exciting event - one that has inspired RENEW to pursue launching a new chapter of the Impact Angel Network in Salt Lake City.Matt remarked, “As a Ute, I believe Utah should be a leader in the impact investment space because, 1) we understand ethical capitalism, 2) we are global, and 3) we are entrepreneurial.” RENEW feels that our nation needs more Utah leaders like Jim Sorenson, renowned entrepreneur and founder of the James Lee Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center <a href="http://sgiicenter.com/jim-sorenson/">(SGII)</a>, to venture across the world and bring the concept of U.S. businesses to countries like Ethiopia.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_3_2_4e736f3a2b.jpg"></figure>

Two of RENEW's partners traveled to Salt Lake City and met with local business leaders

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RENEW Hosts Impact Investing Luncheon in Utah

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW in 2013</h1>In almost all regards, 2013 was a banner year for RENEW. We facilitated several investments into amazing companies in Ethiopia (see <a href="../../marketplace/portfolio.html">Portfolio</a>), secured great partnerships with the development community, and helped mobilize more than $3 million into our portfolio companies.As for impact, we created more than 20 full time jobs, some 30 part time jobs, supported 190* people, and helped mobilize $39 million** in the local economy.We provided more than five trainings on the basics of private equity, and met with more than 100 local companies.RENEW also hired three amazing staff members (see <a href="../../about-renew/team.html">Team</a>) and had three exceptional fellows participate in our RENEW Fellows Program.2013 was not without its challenges. We learned a lot about doing business in Ethiopia: I personally made some classic “western” blunders with regard to managing my team and negotiating terms with our portfolio companies (thank you all, for your grace, patience and wonderful advice). Nonetheless, we learned a lot from these challenges, and we are excited about what 2014 will bring!*Using the 9x job creation multiplier. **Using the 13x SEAF multiplier.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_ethiopia_november_2013_angel_trip_6581aeedc7.jpg"></figure>Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

Read about RENEW's achievements and lessons learned in 2013.

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RENEW in 2013

<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/the_economist_2_0_da21a74fc3.jpg"></figure><h1 style="text-align:center;">The Economist to Host Ethiopia Summit 2015</h1>This week, The Economist will be hosting <a href="http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea/ethiopiasummit-2015">The Ethiopia Summit 2015</a> in Addis Ababa. The conference plans to bring together the country’s leading policy makers and business executives to explore, discuss and tackle the current economic challenges Ethiopia faces today.Matthew Davis will be speaking on the “Financing Ethiopia’s Ambitious Plans” panel. This panel will discuss Ethiopia’s constrained banking sector, which had led to a “gap” in access to finance for small to medium sized enterprises. As a result, private equity groups, such as RENEW and the Impact Angel Network (IAN), have stepped in to fill this gap and provide entrepreneurs with the means to scale their companies. In light of Ethiopia’s second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II), the panel will explore Ethiopia’s current investment environment, the opportunities to help finance the country’s development goals, and the changes the private banking sector would experience if it were to open up.Hailu Tessema, the owner of <a href="http://www.mama-fresh.com/">Mama Fresh Injera, PLC</a> - one of the the IAN’s portfolio companies - will be sharing the challenges he has faced as an Ethiopian entrepreneur, his successes to date, as well as lessons learnt from building a company from scratch and growing it to a global enterprise.This event is significant, as it demonstrates a shift in the world’s focus on development and aid, to investment and trade. With Ethiopia being the second most populous country and the ninth largest economy on the continent, the country is poised to achieve its full potential and become one of the world’s fastest growing economies*. Be sure you do not miss out on the opportunities Ethiopia has to offer!<a href="http://www.economist.com/events-conferences/emea/ethiopiasummit-2015">*The Economist Ethiopia Summit 2015</a>

RENEW’s Matthew Davis and Mama Fresh’s Hailu Tessema to speak at this week’s summit.

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The Economist to Host Ethiopia Summit 2015

<h1 style="text-align:center;">2014: What's Next</h1>Next year will be focused on scaling. We plan to make more great investments and focus on adding value to our portfolio companies. We will also be doing more work with our angel network. We plan to work more closely with our current chapters and expand organically into a few more cities. We’ll be offering our angels more trip options, benefits for their family members, and creative ways for them to help engage and work with their investments.We will also embark on some innovative projects to strengthen our analysis by gathering and mining sources of local market data, and monitoring and evaluating our portfolio so we can accurately capture and report post-investment metrics.Finally, we hope to create some great success stories, and we will do our best to profile these throughout the year.So stay tuned. Thank you all for your continued support of our company, and we hope to hear from you soon.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/photo_ethiopia_whats_next_for_2014_fc1a0de3da.jpg"></figure>Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

A look into what's in store for RENEW in 2014.

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2014: What's Next

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW and the Impact Angel Network Close Sixth Investment in East Africa</h1>RENEW is excited to announce that members of the Impact Angel Network (IAN) closed an investment in the food and beverage industry in Ethiopia. The investment is in partnership with a leading producer of paper products in Ethiopia. The company sees an opportunity to leverage the management’s experience in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and the IAN and RENEW’s support to gain significant market share in the growing food and beverage industry by offering low-cost, locally produced alternatives to expensive imports.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/merkato_f7d9ce0c21.png"></figure>With the world’s fourteenth largest and fourteenth fastest growing population, Ethiopia is likely to see some of the strongest growth in FMCGs among African countries.* Demand within Ethiopia in relevant segments of the food and beverage industry, in particular, has exhibited significant growth in recent years, with compound annual growth rates in the double digits.**Anticipated impact includes creation of 125 new jobs in Ethiopia’s manufacturing and value addition sectors, increased purchases of produce from over 900 small holder farmers in Upper Awash, an impoverished area in the Afar region of Ethiopia, benefitting farmers and their families in that region, and reductions in foreign currency expenditures as a result of import substitution.This is the IAN’s fifth investment in Ethiopia since 2013, and their sixth investment in the East Africa region.<a href="https://renewcapital.com/sites/default/files/press_release_-_ethiopian_food_and_beverage_co.pdf">Download the press release</a>, contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a>, follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC or find us on Instagram @impactangelnetwork to learn more.*<a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html">The World Factbook</a> and <a href="https://www.kpmg.com/Africa/en/IssuesAndInsights/Articles-Publications/General-Industries-Publications/Documents/Fast-moving Consumer Goods in Africa.pdf">Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Africa</a> **<a href="http://ethemb.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Production-of-Fruits-and-Vegetables-in-Ethiopia.pdf">Investment Opportunity Profile for the Production of Fruit and Vegetables in Ethiopia</a>

The IAN invests in an Ethiopian food and beverage company.

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RENEW and the Impact Angel Network Close Sixth Investment in East Africa

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Crowdsourcing Better Deals</h1><figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:21.64%;"><img src="/uploads/giin_logo_ffa8da7d81.jpg"></figure>RENEW has been selected as one of the winners of the Africa Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF), funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, in partnership with the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).IEIF provides grant capital for entrepreneurs with projects that create jobs in underserved sectors and supports proposals geared toward enabling capital solutions, fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems and promoting impact investing industry infrastructure. In addition to RENEW, Investisseurs &amp; Partenaires (Senegal), M.Lab Africa (Kenya), Policy and Economic Research Council (Tanzania), Doreo Partners (Nigeria), GIMPA Centre for Impact Investing (Ghana) and SliceBiz (Ghana) were selected as winners.The vision for the winners is to enable through their various projects, opportunities for additional entrepreneurship activities across Africa to thrive. “The winners were selected for their work in bridging the gap between African businesses and financing options. We, at the Foundation are excited to be part of the process of supporting interventions that contribute to sustained economic development across the continent.” Dr. Wiebe Boer, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, explained.RENEW is delighted to be selected and will be using the grant to pilot a methodology, originally developed by Global Giving in the non-profit space, to test whether crowdsourced qualitative data can be used to help impact investors identify quality deals in developing countries. "The high costs associated with finding and vetting companies is one of the barriers preventing more investors from investing in countries like Ethiopia. We are hoping this approach may uncover the potential for new types of data to enter the investment process." said Matthew Davis, a partner at RENEW.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

RENEW selected as winner of Africa Impact Economy Innovations Fund.

Crowdsourcing Better Deals

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Real Stories of Real Investments</h1>One of RENEW's core beliefs is that great businesses are the engines of a thriving economy. Over the past year, RENEW 's Impact Angel Network has invested in three incredible businesses in Ethiopia. We believe that investing in these businesses and others like it will create the engine that lifts nations out of poverty.<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://youtu.be/KXJfBFJXoPQ"></oembed></figure>To celebrate these successes, we've created a short video that tells part of the story of each entrepreneur. Celebrate with RENEW, the Impact Angel Network and the entrepreneurs behind these growing companies by watching their stories unfold.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

Watch a video that tells the story of three investments that RENEW's Impact Angel Network made in the last year.

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Real Stories of Real Investments

<h1 style="text-align:center;">3 Reasons It's Time for Angel Investors to Go Global</h1>Times are changing - Markets around the world are opening up, technology is shrinking 3,000 miles to 30 miles, and angel investing is the new "VC". At RENEW, we think it's time for U.S. angel investors to start going global. Here's why:<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/renew_banners_connect_grow_1_2296e046e9.jpg"></figure>1. The risk return profile of frontier markets is changing. Small, mid-size and large companies across sub-Saharan Africa are sprouting up to meet growing domestic and international demand. Per the IMF, “the same crucial developments that presaged the arrival of institutional financial investors in emerging markets in the 1980s are taking place in parts of sub-Saharan Africa today—growth is taking off, the private sector is the key driver of that growth.”* Local companies are starved for capital as their financial markets scramble to keep up. This presents a good opportunity for investors to enter into regions where valuations are low. Still, investors must be very cautious. Do your due diligence, partner with people you trust, and know what you are getting into. This is the Wild West.2. Thankfully, frontier markets like Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda are more accessible through Western firms that have offices in these countries. Whether it is large institutional players or boutique investment firms, Western investors can find investment professionals working out of offices in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Accra. In Ethiopia, where RENEW has an office, we offer our angel investors a full, turnkey, in-country investment service. This is encouraging news for investors since “sub-Saharan Africa is expected to continue being the second fastest growing region in the world” with growth rates at around 5% in 2014, and expected rates at 5.75% for 2015.**3. You receive two returns. When you invest in an ethically run company a frontier market, you have the chance of making both a financial return and significant social returns. You can receive the same in developed markets, but the dollar does go a lot farther in countries where wages are low. Last year, RENEW's angels created over 500 jobs. Their investments also help stabilize the economy by generating taxes to offset foreign aid, and bring in hard currency to help stabilize inflation.So, when you find yourself looking for that next big thing or an exciting venture to take on, consider joining the ranks of rock stars like <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/03/30/why-private-equity-is-moving-into-ethiopia-at-a-glance/">Bob Geldof</a> and war heroes like <a href="http://media.kkr.com/media/media_releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=852684">David Petraeus</a>, and invest in frontier markets like Ethiopia.We welcome U.S. angels to participate in the discussion on angels going global at our May 1 National Gathering in Washington, D.C. Please contact a RENEW team member at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> to find out more.

At RENEW, we think it's time for U.S. angel investors to think about going global...

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3 Reasons It's Time for Angel Investors to Go Global

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Sustainatopia Impact Conference 2014</h1>Leaders in impact investing convened in Miami for <a href="http://www.connectionmiami.com/">Sustainatopia's Impact Conference 2014</a>. RENEW partner, <a href="https://renewcapital.com/team/tom-scriven">Tom Scriven</a>, joined leaders of global banks, impact investing firms, NGOs and governmental and international agency officials for a three-day conversation about trends and challenges in the fast-growing impact investing industry. They gathered Wednesday night for a fashion show and Sustainability Awards ceremony attended by local advocates for sustainability and impact investing working in fashion (Amber Arbucci, photographer and former Victoria's Secret model, other fashion models and designers), local government officials (Philip Levine, Miami Beach mayor), architecture (Chad Oppenheim) and international finance (JP Capello), among others advancing sustainable development.Keynote speaker Bina Venkataraman (Senior Advisor to the President of the United States on Climate Change Innovation) opened the conference speaking on President Obama's initiatives to use big data to evaluate and promote sustainable development solutions.Tom joined leaders of other firms catalyzing impact investments in speaking on their work with early stage and other companies underserved by the capital markets. Tom and <a href="http://www.connectionmiami.com/2014-speakers">fellow panelists</a> spoke on the importance of intermediaries' work in readying SMEs in emerging markets for foreign investment and in catalyzing that investment into frontier markets, such as East Africa, rural communities in the United States and Southeast Asia.A recurring theme of this discussion and others at the conference, including one led by Cornerstone Capital founder and former head of research at UBS, Erika Karp, was that demand for impact investments continues to grow, particularly as intergenerational transfers of wealth occur from baby boomers to their millennial children. The impact investing community needs to respond to this demand by offering a range of investment products across asset classes for both accredited and retail investors.Contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a> or follow us on Twitter @RENEWLLC to find out more.

RENEW's Tom Scriven joined other leaders in the impact investing field in Miami last week.