IIX Orange Bonds Lifting MILLIONS of Women in Asia & Africa! | Robert Kraybill (#076)

SRI360 | Sustainable & Responsible Investing, Impact Investing, ESG, Socially Responsible Investing

Robert Kraybill is a well-known name in the impact investment space who has created innovative financial products that channel capital into improving livelihoods across emerging markets, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.

But his journey didn’t start there.

Robert’s first big career move was at Morgan Stanley. Fresh out of Princeton, he was ready to take on the world of investment banking. But before he even made it to his orientation session, he met Durreen Shahnaz – the woman who would later become his wife and, more importantly for this story, the founder of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and a global leader in social impact investing.

Starting as a banker at Morgan Stanley, Robert later led investment banking for Wasserstein Perella & Co. in Singapore and then transitioned to private equity at Marathon Asset Management, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region.

Then came 2008. The financial crisis hit, and Robert saw firsthand that it "exposed the hollow promise of traditional finance’s claim to make the world better through efficient capital allocation."

He knew there had to be a better way. So, he pivoted – to impact investing.

Fast forward to today, and he’s Chief Investment Officer at IIX, a Singapore-based enterprise that helps mission-driven businesses grow and scale their positive impact. In their words, they “build pathways to connect backstreets of underserved communities to the Wall Streets of the world”.
Alongside his wife, he is transforming financial systems and developing innovative solutions that drive women’s empowerment, climate action, and community resilience. Through IIX and the IIX Foundation, their work has mobilized over $250 million in private-sector investment and positively impacted more than 100 million people worldwide.
His team pioneered the Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) series, a first-of-its-kind financial product that channels investment into women-focused enterprises across emerging markets.
But they didn’t stop there. After proving the success of the Women’s Livelihood Bonds, they created Orange Bonds – an investment framework designed to standardize and scale gender-lens investing, just like Green Bonds did for climate finance.

In this episode, Robert takes us through the evolution of the WLB Series and the birth of Orange Bonds.

He also explains the mechanics of blended finance – where catalytic capital de-risks investments to attract large-scale institutional funding. We also talk about IIX’s Values Impact Measurement Tool, their Risk-Return-Impact philosophy, and their ambitious goal: creating one billion sustainable livelihoods by 2030.

Join us to discover why the future of impact investing isn’t just green – it’s turning orange.

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About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, I interview a world-class investor who is an accomplished practitioner from all asset classes.
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Additional Resources:

- Robert Kraybill LinkedIn

- IIX LinkedIn

- IIX Website

- The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women

Розділи

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Robert Kraybill’s background and education (00:04:04)

3. Joining Morgan Stanley (where Robert met his future wife) (00:11:57)

4. Investment banking career - from Wasserstein Perella to Marathon Asset Management (00:20:48)

5. The 2008 financial crisis and the flaws of traditional finance (00:26:41)

6. Founding Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) Foundation (00:29:44)

7. IIX today – a high-level overview (00:38:17)

8. IIX’s theory of change (00:41:23)

9. The birth of the Women’s Livelihood Bond (00:44:53)

10. Development of Orange Bond Principles (00:52:45)

11. The risk-return impact philosophy (00:59:30)

12. Examples of loans from the WLB series and their impact (01:04:08)

13. Measuring impact through IIX’s Values tool (01:07:25)

14. Goal to create a billion sustainable livelihoods by 2030 (01:10:30)

15. The biggest challenge in impact investing today (01:11:40)

16. Contact info (01:12:35)