Project timeline: 2025-2026 
Focus area: South Africa

The Innovative Finance Initiative (IFI) is a five-year field-building effort focused on advancing innovative finance: investment approaches designed to deliver both financial returns and positive social or environmental outcomes. IFI is a platform for learning, collaboration, and experimentation across the finance ecosystem.

IFI helps practitioners share knowledge, test new ideas, and work collectively on challenges that no single organisation can solve alone. Its work includes practitioner-led working groups, learning programmes, collaborative research, and practical tools that support the development and adoption of new financing models. The initiative brings together a global community of funders, investors, entrepreneurs, and technical experts working to make capital more effective and fit for purpose.

BESTSELLER Foundation supports IFI because we believe unlocking more effective forms of capital is critical to achieving both impact and financial sustainability. We contribute to a working group exploring how to improve liquidity and exit pathways for investors and entrepreneurs in Africa, including mechanisms such as secondaries, structured exits, and other alternative approaches.

Learn more about the Innovative Finance Initiative here.