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b'Investors are increasingly flocking to financial products that offer social as well as monetary returns, a Friends of Europe event has heard.\\n\\nWith an estimated $6tn a year required over the next 15 years to achieve the UN\\u2019s 2030 sustainable development goals - and the world having reached \\u201cpeak overseas development aid\\u201d - institutional investors and private equity firms are having to get creative, said Shada Islam, Director for Europe and Geopolitics, who moderated the event.\\n\\nThe European Investment Bank (EIB) uses \\u2018Sustainability Awareness Bonds\\u2019 to help fund SDG-themed projects, helping to alleviate the biggest risk that private investors face in Africa: state-owned enterprises defaulting on their payments. \\u201cThe smart, targeted use of public funds to leverage private investment is key,\\u201d says Richard Amor, Head of the EIB\\u2019s Institutional and Implementation Unit.\\n\\nPrivate equity firms such as KOIS Invest are using \\u2018development\\u2019 or \\u2018humanitarian impact bonds\\u2019 to help funnel money loans (via local banks) to small businesses or female-run enterprises. \\u201cIt\\u2019s not about the profits of the assets, but the impact on the ground and putting a monetary value on that,\\u201d said B\\xe9atrice Delperdange, Head of Business Development at KOIS Invest.\\n\\nHowever, there is not a \\u201cbusiness case\\u201d for all SDGs, said Thomas F\\xf6rch, Senior Technical Expert for Financial Sector Development and Insurance at the Deutsche Gesellschaft f\\xfcr Internationale Zusammenarbeit, calling on governments to continue playing a role in big infrastructure projects.\\n\\nLubna Shaban, Co-Director of Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), says organisations like hers can help bring together donors, banks, NGOs, governments and other expertise. \\u201cIf you\\u2019ve never heard of us, good,\\u201d she says. \\u201cWe\\u2019re doing our job.\\u201d'