Lendahand Ethex debuts impact tracking tool
LENDAHAND Ethex is allowing investors to track the social and environmental impact of their investments for the first time, via a new portfolio impact tracking tool.
Investors in the Energise Africa project will be able to view detailed updates on how their funds are being used across sub-Saharan Africa, once repayments begin six months into their investment.
The Energise Africa project was created as a joint venture between Lendahand, a crowdfunding platform that promotes impact investing, and Ethex, a peer-to-peer platform that offers ethical investment opportunities. The project invests in businesses which bring solar power to households in sub-Saharan Africa.
Investors will now be able to view detailed maps showing where the solar systems have been installed, the number of households and people that have benefited, and the extra hours of light and CO2 emissions reduced.
“Ethical investing isn’t just about thinking that your money is doing good; it’s about demonstrating that it is doing good,” said Lisa Ashford, managing director of Lendahand Ethex. “Customers want easily accessible, transparent products with the potential to generate fair returns and increasingly they want to be connected with their money, seeing exactly how their investment is benefitting the environment and communities.
“We are delighted that we are now able to provide Energise Africa investors with the ability to easily track the social, environmental and financial impact of their investment via our new portfolio impact tracking tool.
“For a long time investors have been hampered with a lack of transparency and opaque products when it comes to impact investing – now via the power of technology, we’re connecting people directly with the impact that their investment is creating on the ground.”
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Lendahand Ethex has raised more than £4.5m to date from 1,000 people investing in 36 projects across Africa. These investments have allowed more than 180,000 people to access affordable solar energy in Burkina Faso, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Investors can support the Energise Africa project with a minimum deposit of £50, with targeted returns of up to six per cent per year. All investments are eligible for inclusion within an Innovative Finance ISA wrapper.
Lendahand Ethex estimates that there are 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who have no access to electricity. Through Energise Africa’s solar businesses, households can borrow the money to install solar panels. The money is then paid back monthly over a one or two-year period.
Read more: Government urged to widen access to ethical investments
