The future of business investments in Ghana should move in the direction of ventures that add value to the local eco-system, says the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF).
The Fund is at the forefront of promoting ‘impact investing’, a concept that accommodate a strategy for creating positive social and environmental impact beyond financial return.
It challenges private investors and entrepreneurs to develop innovative businesses to deliver effective and lasting solutions. Focal areas include sustainable agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation and employment generation.
Percival Ofori Ampomah, Head of Fund Investments at the Venture Capital Trust Fund explains that impact investing is synonymous with social entrepreneurship, which is critical in building a green economy.
“The impact investing angle is actually looking at sustainable businesses and one of them is green economies; sustainable energy, resources, and sustainable funding for energy among others, so it’s an assets class that needs to be invested in if you want to build a proper green economy”, he told Luv Biz Report.
Mr. Amponsah enjoined financial service providers to positively screen business investments with viable social impact as conditions in advancing financing.
According to a research conducted by The Rockefeller Foundation and JP Morgan, the impact investment market offers the potential of $400billion to $1trillion over the next ten years. The value in Africa is estimated at $297 million.
This is the driving force behind the VCTF’s decision to promote impact investing in Ghana.
The Fund has been engaging investors and policy makers in Kumasi to discuss the concept of impact investing in Ghana. The objective is to facilitate private capital into businesses that can transform lives in Ghana.
Chief Executive Officer of the VCTF, Daniel Duku, says the Fund is continually combing the world for institutional investors to support its mandate of providing low-cost long term financing to small and medium scale enterprises.
The VCTF is collaborating with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to establish the Centre for Impact Investing later this month.