IGNIA Announces Commitment to Continue as the Largest Impact Investing Fund in Latin America

MONTERREY, Mexico, September 22, 2011 -

It will be announced today by President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative’s Seventh Annual Meeting that IGNIA has made a commitment to continue being the largest impact investing fund in Latin America.  This commitment was selected by the Clinton Global Initiative from a larger pool of member commitments as an exemplary approach to addressing challenges related to economic empowerment. 

IGNIA is an impact investing venture capital firm based in Monterrey, Mexico that supports the founding and expansion of high growth social enterprises that serve the base of the socio-economic pyramid in Latin America. IGNIA is focused on areas with disproportionate impact on the lives of low income families, such as healthcare, housing, education, basic services and income-multiplier activities.  By providing effective responses to the enormously underserved needs of low income populations, as consumers as well as productive agents in value-added supply chains, IGNIA empowers entrepreneurship and generates social impact while creating attractive financial returns for its investors.

In the next twelve years, IGNIA has committed to provide an additional $200 million in financial and strategic support to small and medium businesses in Latin America that supply affordable basic goods and services to the disadvantaged and underserved. In doing so, IGNIA aims to create commercially-successful businesses that will foster the development of new industries to address the needs of low-income populations.

“There is much to be done to relieve the key constraints limiting the potential of the majority of the world’s population.  Over the next twelve years, we seek to build profitable enterprises that will deliver on our pledge to offer products and services that improve the quality of life of those most in need” said Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, Co-founder and Managing Partner of IGNIA.

Michael Chu, Co-founder and Managing Director, joins Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui in this endeavor.  Together, they bring over fifty years of combined investment and executive management experience in the United States, Europe, Mexico and across Latin America. Both are leaders in the field of private equity, microfinance, and businesses at the base of the socio-economic pyramid.

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have brought together nearly 150 current and former heads of state, 18 Nobel Prize laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made nearly 2,000 commitments, which have already improved the lives of 300 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued in excess of $63 billion. The 2011 Annual Meeting will take place Sept. 20-22 in New York City.  For more information, visit www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

For additional information about IGNIA, please
Visit: www.ignia.com.mx

Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui, info at ignia.com.mx, +52-81-8000-7280