Why an investment thesis for Pacific RISE?
NOTE: The investment thesis was launched and first road-tested with investors at SOCAP in September 2017. After this event, it was updated to reflect feedback from those investors. There is a further update to the thesis within the Pacific Possibilities document released in June 2021.
Pacific RISE used an investment thesis to engage with investors and broaden the sense of possibilities about what types of opportunities exist in the Pacific. The focus is not to conduct an in-depth analysis of the future of the Pacific, but rather focus on particular trends and ideas for the future which will entice investors into thinking differently about the Pacific.
The updated investment thesis looks at how the Pacific ecosystem has changed during the 5 years of Pacific RISE, and assesses if and how the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacts on this vision for the future. The thesis provides the foundation for the possible vehicle designs suggested in the next sections. We also looked at what it takes to build a better financial vehicle – and pulled out 12 pacific possibilities for investment that would disrupt entrenched power dynamics. Addressing these power dynamics requires a departure from prevailing or common finance models, and instead developing financial innovations that enable organisations to make more equitable deals – deals that are ultimately more successful at achieving the desired social and financial returns.
The six futures we are exploring are:
- Resilience in the face of climate change
- Value chains producing unique quality
- Capturing expanding value in the informal sector
- Geographic position mitigating political risk
- Strength in the domestic labour and purchasing power
- Connected efficiently through tech and transport
Each future has been informed by a gender lens, drawing on knowledge of gender patterns in the Pacific context and culture.
Pacific RISE has developed a series of videos diving deeper into the investment thesis. These include Joy Anderson (Criterion Institute and Pacific RISE’s lead on the investment thesis development) covering a number of topics, including an example of one of the six themes of the thesis, Resilience in the Face of Climate Change.