The term ‘impact investing’ has been applied to such a wide range of activities — from pure philanthropy with financial return expectations to conventional investment with ESG screening — that it has lost much of its analytical precision. Vancouver-based investor Yazan Al Homsi has developed a more specific version of the concept that is anchored in measurable outcomes rather than stated intentions.

For Yazan Al Homsi, impact is measured in specific clinical outcomes, specific carbon reductions, or specific expansions of access to services that people genuinely need. The Rocket Doctor investment creates impact through the diagnostic consultations that would not otherwise occur — patients who receive accurate diagnoses that improve their health outcomes in measurable ways.

Yazan Al Homsi’s Charbone Hydrogen investment creates impact through the specific quantum of carbon-free hydrogen that replaces fossil fuel energy — a contribution to emissions reduction that is quantifiable and independently verifiable rather than asserted through a theory of change.

This emphasis on specificity and measurability reflects Yazan Al Homsi’s investment discipline applied to the impact dimension — the same rigor he applies to financial analysis, applied to understanding whether and how a company is actually delivering the outcomes it claims.

Vancouver-based investor Yazan Al Homsi has argued that impact investing, done rigorously, produces better financial returns over time because it directs capital toward solutions to genuine problems — and genuine problem-solving creates value that markets will reward. The alignment between impact and returns is not guaranteed by intention; it has to be built through the discipline of evaluating both dimensions with equal rigor.