Company executives, often located at corporate headquarters, can be slow to recognise opportunities to create regional private-public partnerships. They are often constrained by financial management systems that, by their very nature, guide them towards short-term thinking. Though there are exceptions, few companies are able to create transformational ecosystems alone. Companies need to partner with a ‘catalyst organisation’ to engage actors from multiple sectors in collaborative relationships and support the creation of strategies that can generate economic and social value. Harnessing the resources and innovation capabilities of profit-seeking companies is the reason governments are attracted to public-private partnerships as mechanisms for improving local socioeconomic conditions.

What does it take to mobilise complementary partners?
Representatives from different public and private sector ‘catalysts’ will reflect on the lessons they have learned and consider how the main barriers to successful partnerships can be overcome.

Corporate investment funds favour safe projects with short payback periods, not projects that require creating new relationships across multiple sectors in frontier markets. One strategy to circumvent this issue is to find capital from organisations that already have a mission to create inclusive growth ecosystems. These types of organisations tend to be under less pressure to generate short-term financial returns. This poses questions about how we differentiate the need for seed capital versus scaling, or who ought to take responsibility for financing new ecosystems.

Who takes on the financial risks of creating a new ecosystem?
Experts from the world of finance will examine how to obtain seed and scale-up financing. Panellists will discuss different vehicles and ways they channel external, non-traditional sources of capital into these types of projects, with a specific focus on impact investing.

Building an ecosystem is not for the fainthearted. By some estimates, more than 50% of joint ventures and strategic alliances fail to achieve their desired results. Shared metrics provide accountability and the foundation for governing this ecosystem.

Who writes the rules?
Leaders in measurement, monitoring and evaluation will explore different experiences in establishing shared metrics and how a successful framework can be used to create alignment among multiple partners.