OXFAM is launching an innovative small company investment fund which it hopes will demonstrate that investing in developing countries can deliver both social and financial returns.
Launched in Edinburgh, the fund is among the UK’s first to be badged as “impact investing”, a sector growing rapidly in the US. Such funding overtly seeks positive social impacts alongside investor profits.
The Small Enterprise Impact Investment Fund (SEIIF) will invest in small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries and aims to create 100,000 “good quality jobs” within five years.