Abstract
Impact investing is making important and positive contributions to the socio-economic development of groups at the bottom-of-the-pyramid. Independent literature streams reveal how in resource scarce contexts of sub-Saharan Africa, businesses are increasingly tapping into this emerging opportunity which is extending loans and other forms of capital. However, to date, there is very limited understanding of this domain from a hospitality and tourism perspective. By synthesizing across these literature streams, we explore the opportunities, constrains and nature of impact investing, and theorize its key determinants in resource scarce contexts. To elaborate our theorization, we content analyse published accounts i.e. industry reports and academic literature to argue for the need for more impact investing in hospitality and tourism, a sector that has traditionally suffered from under-financing and limited politico-economic recognition. The study lays a foundation for future research on impact investing in hospitality and tourism and yield important policy and managerial implications.