NAIC is Celebrating 50 Years of Industry Excellence!

It’s time to celebrate! Robert L. Greene, NAIC’s President & CEO, invites you to join us throughout the year as we honor the contributions and achievements of high-performing diverse-owned firms and professionals of color in the industry! The festivities will culminate with the NAIC 50th Annual Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference this October in New York City – so stay tuned for details! Throughout the year, we will not only observe NAIC’s half-century of advocacy for diversity and greater access to capital but also salute the milestone accomplishments, landmark deals and immeasurable impact that diverse industry leaders have brought – and continue to bring – to an increasingly complex and sophisticated industry.

NAIC Launches Growth Equity Funds Initiative!

NAIC announced that it has launched the Growth Equity Funds Initiative, an effort to increase the amount of growth capital available to ethnically diverse and women-owned businesses (DWBEs). In October 2019, the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded NAIC a grant to lead, manage, and develop the strategy for the initiative. This effort will facilitate the aggregation and deployment of $1 billion in growth capital to invest in DWBEs.

Through the initiative, the NAIC will facilitate the quantification of the demand for and current supply of capital focused on DWBEs with at least $5 million in annual revenue. Under the oversight of the NAIC, Funds of Funds, selected through a competitive process, will leverage their expertise and network to attract growth capital. This capital will subsequently be allocated to growth equity investment funds whose managers will invest directly in ethnically diverse and women entrepreneurs. Finally, the NAIC will monitor the success and report on progress towards established goals of the initiative.

NAIC Perspectives: The Keys to an Effective Emerging Manager Program

The UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust has channeled more than $4 billion in capital to small, emerging and diverse managers. In this installment of Perspectives, NAIC's online video series, Hershel Harper, Chief Investment Officer for the Trust, shares some of the key steps the organization took to grow its emerging managers' program and how its culture of inclusion impacts the way it selects suppliers as well as asset managers.

Development Partners International: Leveraging Africa’s Explosive Growth to Generate Outsized Returns

This installment of NAIC’s Member Focus features Runa Alam, who in 2007 co-founded London-based Development Partners International as a best-in-class private equity manager focusing on opportunities in Africa that leverages the significant growth of its middle class. These days, she is one of the very few women of color overseeing over $1 billion in assets. NAIC takes a look at her journey and where her firm is finding alpha-generating investments in the African continent.

Mark Your Calendars: NAIC’s 2020 Events Lineup!

NAIC is happy to announce that we will host more symposia and live events than ever before! In addition to five Institutional Investor Roadshows (additional details for these roadshows will be shared with NAIC members as they are confirmed), we have a full slate of events throughout the year that will culminate with the NAIC 50th Annual Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference in New York City this coming October. Our robust schedule of events will include:

• February 5-7 – Aon Transaction Solutions Symposium (Miami, FL) – Click here for details
• March 12-13 – NAIC Next Generation Symposium (Washington, DC)
• March 24-25 – ENGAGE West (San Francisco, CA)
• May 14-15 – NAIC Next Generation Symposium (San Francisco, CA)
• July 16-17 – NAIC Next Generation Symposium (New York, NY)
• Week of September 14 – ENGAGE East (New York, NY)

From the William Blair Investment Management Podcast: Slowbalization, Big Tech, Political Pendulums

In this excerpt from the William Blair Investment Management Podcast, Patrick Foulis, business affairs editor for The Economist, discusses the top global economic trends to watch and gives a glimpse into the inner workings of the 176-year-old publication. He shows us the publication’s approach to in-depth, analytical articles, his thoughts on global economic trends, the impact of an increased concentration of corporate profits and more.

NAIC Strengthens Members’ Offerings Through Key Corporate Partnerships

NAIC recently formed two strategic partnerships to increase the scope of products and services available to member firms. Through our relationship with William Blair, the premier global boutique with expertise in investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management, will increase its volume of transactions with diverse-owned firms – which already exceeds $30 billion. NAIC will also support William Blair's ongoing recruitment and retention of greater numbers of top-tier diverse professionals at the global firm, which will no doubt result in increased opportunities for professionals of color.

NAIC's partnership with Aon plc will provide our private equity member firms with greater access to M&A and Transaction Solutions designed to better mitigate risk and reduce transaction costs. This valuable partnership is a direct result of our member firms engaging in increasingly innovative and complex transactions and will allow diverse firms to have greater access to Aon's broad portfolio of solutions and services across commercial risk, reinsurance, health, retirement and data & analytics.

Aon also invites the NAIC network to attend their annual Transaction Solutions Symposium, which will be held at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami on February 5-6. Topics covered include industry trends, strategies to mitigate and insure deal and tax risk and better manage capital, claims management, and the increasing spotlight on cyber and intellectual property as critical considerations for successful deals. To receive an invitation, click the following link: https://bit.ly/2NpIfd3

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