Innovative Finance: Hacking finance to change the world

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/innovative-finance

Introduction

# Course Review: Innovative Finance: Hacking Finance to Change the World In an era where social and environmental issues demand urgent attention, "Innovative Finance: Hacking Finance to Change the World" emerges as a vital course on Coursera that empowers participants to utilize financial tools in the fight against global poverty. As we delve into the course, it's clear that its core principle revolves around the idea that the challenge of resource allocation can be addressed through informed innovative financing strategies rather than a mere shortage of resources. ## Overview The course is designed to equip participants with the skills and knowledge to develop innovative financing strategies aimed at promoting financial inclusion, enhancing access to education, and addressing environmental challenges, among other significant social outcomes. It emphasizes the application of finance as a catalyst for real impact, encouraging learners to address key global challenges through innovative solutions. ### What You Will Learn The course is structured around five key components, each focusing on a critical aspect of the innovative finance process. 1. **Choosing Your Issue Area:** In the initial week, learners are introduced to the concept of innovative finance and why it's necessary for driving social impact. The course breaks down various impact themes like housing, health, education, agriculture, and more. Through engaging case studies from social enterprises, impact investors, and foundations, students begin to identify which issues resonate with them personally. 2. **Understanding Challenges and Roadblocks:** This week emphasizes the importance of assessing the needs and roadblocks within chosen issue areas. Students will learn about conducting due diligence, an essential step in identifying the landscapes of problems and potential solutions. Design thinking is highlighted as a crucial methodology for empathy-driven problem-solving. 3. **Identifying Resources:** In week three, participants focus on the resources available to them and how to creatively leverage assets and funding sources. The course provides insights into outcomes-based contracts and encourages the mapping of resources as a strategy for achieving results. 4. **Discovering Opportunities:** Students explore opportunities outside their identified issues, learning from best practices in other sectors. The discussion extends to potential risks, which is vital for developing a well-rounded innovative financing strategy. 5. **Designing for Impact:** The final week culminates in the design of a personal innovative financing strategy. Participants reflect on their learning journey, applying the five stages of the innovative finance process. Many will appreciate the optional honors assignment, which allows them to create a comprehensive plan for their innovative finance strategy. ## Pros of the Course - **Practical Framework:** The course provides a structured approach to understanding innovative finance, making it accessible for individuals from different backgrounds. - **Engaging Case Studies:** The use of real-world examples helps to illustrate concepts and encourages learners to think critically about how innovative finance can be applied in various contexts. - **Interactive Assignments:** Each week includes assignments that foster practical application of learned skills, ensuring that participants can implement their ideas effectively. ## Cons of the Course - **Pace:** Some learners may find the pace challenging, particularly if they are new to finance concepts or if they have other commitments. - **Limited Advanced Topics:** While the course covers foundational concepts well, those looking for advanced finance theories or in-depth quantitative analysis may find it lacking. ## Recommendation "Innovative Finance: Hacking Finance to Change the World" is a highly recommended course for anyone interested in merging finance with social impact. Whether you are a budding entrepreneur, an established professional in the finance sector, or simply someone passionate about making a difference, this course will equip you with the tools needed to design effective financing strategies that align with your social objectives. ### Final Thoughts Overall, this course stands out for its timely relevance and practical approach to solving pressing global issues through finance. Enrolling in this course can facilitate a deeper understanding of innovative financing processes while empowering you to contribute meaningfully to social and environmental challenges. Given the interconnectedness of global issues today, the skills you gain here won't just benefit you—they'll enable you to effect tangible change in the world.

Syllabus

Choosing Your Issue Area

Welcome to the first week. We start by defining what innovative finance is and why we need to innovative around financing for social impact. The seven themes of impact we consider are housing, health, education, financial inclusion, agriculture, energy, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. Our case studies are a social enterprise, impact investor, foundation, non-profit and government who are each building innovative financing strategies. You will be investigating why these organisations were created and what the specific issue areas are that they have chosen. We'll encourage you to also start thinking about which of these issue areas resonates with you and what you wish to address in the future. This is the first building block in guiding you to create an innovative financing strategy for yourself.

This week we are going to look at how you assess the needs, challenges and roadblocks in your issue area. You’ll be introduced to Due Diligence, an essential process that needs to be undertaken to map the problem and solutions landscape of an issue area. Following this, we cover design thinking - a useful tool that can be used when conducting due diligence. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the user perspective when mapping problems and potential solutions. Once we’ve understood the concepts, our case studies explain their approaches to due diligence and impact measurement. For this week’s assignment, you’ll need to pick your issue area and outcome metrics as well as design an engagement plan.

Congratulations on reaching week 3! This week we are going to focus on the resources you have to achieve the outcomes in your issue area. The primary goal of this week is to get you to think creatively about your assets, revenue streams and funding sources. We are going to start with how you create revenue from assets that you have already identified and work that you (or others) are already doing. Then we are going to look at the different types of funders you should think about engaging with around resourcing. We will also look at websites to find information about these funders. We will spend a bit of time speaking about a specific type of contract called an outcomes-based contract, which can be an effective tool to create revenue streams from a third party payer. Finally, our cases are going to speak about how they identified resources to address their issue area and work towards their outcomes. You’ll hear the case participants reference the different types of funders that we discuss as well as the opportunity to use an outcomes-based contract. The assignments this week include a graded quiz and creating a resource map. Let’s get going!

So now that you’ve had engaged with resources, let’s consider the opportunities and risks that you may face when dealing with your issue area. First, you’ll learn how to look for specific types of opportunities outside of your issue area. We’ll draw on the best practices of other sectors or geographies to create new approaches to achieving your outcomes. We’ll then dive into the darker side - the risks that you’ll need to understand and address with your innovative financing strategy. For your assignment, you’ll need to identify the risks and opportunities associated with your issue area.

Congratulations on reaching the final week of the course! It’s a short week ahead. Here we introduce you to the five stages of the innovative finance process, which you have been working through during the past four weeks. This week we have arrived at the design process. This requires us to look back over what we’ve done to create a design for our innovative financing strategy. In this week our cases tells us how they designed for impact. Following this, I provide a summary of the cases from week 1 to week 5 and how it relates to the innovative finance process. We end off the course with an exam, covering everything we have learned, and also an optional honours assignment. In this assignment we want you to design your Innovative Finance Strategy.