Global Partnerships and The Eleos Foundation Launch Social Venture Fund

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

The Social Venture Fund Aims to Positively Impact the Lives of 5 Million People Living in Poverty

 

SEATTLE – Global Partnerships (GP) announces the launch of the Global Partnerships/Eleos Social Venture Fund (SVF). The SVF is a new, early-stage impact-led fund investing in social enterprises that expand opportunity for people living in poverty in East Africa.

“There are very few organizations investing in seed-stage social enterprises,” says Rick Beckett, CEO and President, Global Partnerships. “The Social Venture Fund was created to address the ‘pioneer gap’ – capitalizing and supporting social enterprises in their earliest stages of development. These enterprises are addressing big problems facing people living in poverty, on a continent with the highest and most persistent levels of poverty in the world.”

“This collaboration builds on the good work that Eleos has done and takes it to an entirely different level in terms of potential impact and long term sustainability, says Nancy Swanson, Board Chair of Eleos Foundation.”

The SVF will be led by Jim Villanueva, who has transitioned from his role as Executive Director of The Eleos Foundation to his role with Global Partnerships as Managing Director of the SVF. Mr. Villanueva has been investing in early stage social businesses in developing countries for seven years. He is regarded as a leader in the impact investing space, with deep networks among accelerators, incubators, service providers and funders. He brings extensive experience as an entrepreneur and investor to his current role, providing advisory support to entrepreneurs and frequently serving on their boards of directors.

“I am thrilled to join Global Partnerships as the Managing Director for this new Social Venture Fund”, says Villanueva. “GP’s over twenty year success as an impact-led investor and its seasoned team will be a huge asset in helping these early stage social enterprises grow and have a greater impact.”

The SVF will invest in approximately 12 high-potential, early-stage social enterprises focused on education, energy, health, rural livelihoods, sanitation and water. The fund will finance these enterprises through seed-stage convertible debt and early-stage equity, and include active Board engagement. The goal of the SVF is to positively impact 5+ million lives over the life of the fund.

The fund’s first three investments are Sanergy, Penda Health, and Eneza Education. Operations of the SVF over the next ten years are supported by a significant grant from the Eleos Foundation. Initial investors in the SVF include Sorenson Impact Foundation and Linked Foundation.

 

About Global Partnerships

Global Partnerships is an impact-led investor dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty.  Founded in 1994, GP has over eleven years of experience managing social investment funds. As of June 30, 2016, GP has invested over $200 million in 90 social enterprises delivering economic opportunity, education, health, and clean energy in 14 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and East Africa. To date, these investments have positively impacted over 4.1 million lives. GP has offices in Seattle, Washington, USA; Nairobi, Kenya; and Managua, Nicaragua.

 

Source: Press Release (link opens in a new window)

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Investing
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social enterprise