Collection: NatWest SE100
The Impact World this Week: 7 November 2024
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week we reveal Scotland’s Social Enterprise of the Year, dive deep with whales and blended finance, highlight a change at the top of Big Issue Invest, and more.
Global: Whales are leading the growth of climate-focused blended finance investments. According to the State of Blended Finance 2024: Climate edition report from Convergence, investments in blended finance structures (where catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources is used to mobilise private investment in emerging markets) topped US$18bn in 2023, up from US$8bn the year before. But the growth is mostly driven by a small number of unusually large transactions, as six “whale” deals (worth US$1bn or more) together account for US$8.1bn of total financing (80% of the increase). Researchers found that investment is heavily focused on climate change mitigation efforts while climate adaptation continues to be underfunded. The report points out that despite record investment, the gap between available capital and the needs remains substantial.
Scotland: Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust scooped the title of Social Enterprise of the Year at the Social Enterprise Awards Scotland 2024 this evening. The Hebridean island’s residents own the island themselves, after mounting a huge fundraising effort to buy it from its private landlord in 2002. The trust was set up to manage the seven-mile long island on the community’s behalf, introducing new businesses, boosting tourism and installing three wind turbines, called the dancing ladies, which generate green energy and an income for the community. Other winners at the event hosted by Social Enterprise Scotland included the Courtyard Pantry Enterprise, the School for Social Entrepreneurs Scotland and the Media Co-op.
UK: B Lab UK is investigating complaints into HelloFresh UK, after it dismissed 79 workers. The business, which says it’s the first global carbon-neutral recipe box company, delivers meal kits to households which people can cook themselves. Community Trade Union, which represents the employees, said that the company dismissed workers via email in October following concerns being raised about “dire working conditions”, including lack of toilet breaks. A B Lab UK spokesperson told Pioneers Post: “We’re aware of the concerning news of HelloFresh UK’s alleged treatment and dismissal of workers at its factory in Nuneaton. B Lab is currently reviewing the allegations against HelloFresh UK as part of its Public Complaints Process.”
Global: Coming from Ghana and Uganda and the US, the five winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize were revealed at an award ceremony this week in Cape Town. Among them are the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, an organisation whose conservation efforts in Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe has saved the Saiga Antelope from extinction; Keep IT Cool, which instals solar-powered cold storage units for small farmers and fishers; and GAYO, which engage with young people change behaviours and create jobs in order to support circular waste management across Africa. Winners will receive £1m each and the prize organisers say it has helped unlock more than £75m in direct and in-kind support for finalists since it was founded by the Prince of Wales in 2020.
UK: Big Issue Invest CEO Danyal Sattar is to leave the organisation in March 2025 after nearly six years in the job to “look for his next opportunity in the world of social impact”. Under his leadership, the social investor launched two new impact funds and new lending facilities. Sattar said he had always been “immensely proud” of working for Big Issue Invest, “enabling social businesses that provide core solutions to ending poverty to grow through social impact investment”. He received an OBE earlier this year for his services to business and finance. Before joining the organisation. Sattar was head of social investment at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Big Issue Invest is now looking for a new CEO – with a salary of £100,000 per annum, negotiable.
Global: Real estate impact funds are growing steadily – but only a small portion reach the Global South, according to Phenix Impact Capital’s latest research, based on its database of 2,700 impact funds. Impact Report: Real Estate Funds at a Glance reveals that 83% of property-related impact funds focus on developed markets, with nearly half targeting North America. The report finds that €37bn have been raised by 187 real estate impact funds – just 6.6% of the total number of funds included in the Phenix database despite housing being an urgent challenge, with UN estimates suggesting 1.6bn people around the world lack adequate housing. Affordable housing is the main focus for 73% of the funds, followed by green buildings and infrastructure, and access to social infrastructure.
Movers & Shakers
- Pierre Harkay has been appointed CEO of Impact Finance Belgium. Currently development and sustainability manager at BIO Invest, the Belgian development finance institution, Harkey will succeed Frederik van Den Bosch.
- Emerging markets impact finance consultancy Krutham has appointed Justin Prozesky as principal: impact capital. Prozesky has two decades of experience in financial services, philanthropy and impact investing, including working on South Africa’s first social impact bonds.
Figure of the week: £15m is the size of the social investment fund launched this week to support social enterprises and charities in England to improve their energy efficiency. Applications are now open for the Energy Resilience Fund, funded by Better Society Capital, Access – the Foundation for Social Investment and Social Investment Business Foundation. Eligible organisations can receive between £25,000 and £250,000 in blended finance (40% grant, 60% loan) to install energy saving measures or energy generation technology to buildings or land, and/or to purchase energy-efficient or environmentally-friendly vehicles or equipment. Seb Elsworth, CEO of Access, said: “This funding is about empowering communities with the tools they need to thrive sustainably and make a greater impact for the long term.” The fund will be delivered by Social Investment Business, Big Issue Invest, Charity Bank, Co-operative and Community Finance, GMCVO , Groundwork UK, Key Fund, Resonance Ltd, The Architectural Heritage Fund and The Ubele Initiative.
