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"We are an impact investor, but we are looking to achieve a 'commercial return' at an acceptable risk, while ensuring a strong developmental impact."
So says Verdant Capital in an interview with the African Media Agency about its investment in Watu Uganda, a company that provides loans to young people in the country who want to earn a living by driving a motorcycle taxi.
The investment is part of Verdant's larger strategy of investing in "underserved opportunities and making money for the end-clients, our investees, and our investors," the company's CEO tells the New York Times.
"We partner with our investee companies, who in many ways are doing the hardest work, providing loans to and collecting from the end client to improve his or her life."
Watu's loan book now stands at 35,000 clients, the Times notes, and the company's CEO says they've been able to "expand its loan book by 35,000 clients, thereby providing 35,000 young people the opportunity to earn a livelihood by driving a boda boda (motorbike taxi)."
Verdant Capital isn't the first to invest in this area, but it's the first to do so with an emphasis on social and environmental impact.
Selected Grant News Headlines
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Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Keeping Half the Profits Beats Non-profits for Social Impact
Melbourne social enterprise Who Gives A Crap sold nearly 3 million rolls of toilet paper in 2014/15 and gave half the proceeds to WaterAid Australia, but co-founder Simon Griffiths says the donation would have been less had the startup adopted a non-profit model when it launched two years ago.
