Impact investing

Developing and implementing mechanisms to improve social outcomes while meeting financial targets

We work with finance-first and social-first clients, ranging from corporate CSI teams to banks and philanthropies. Our comprehensive support includes developing mission-aligned investment strategies, using catalytic capital and crafting innovative financing mechanisms to address pressing social challenges.

The Krutham approach

We provide comprehensive support, including developing mission-aligned investment strategies, using catalytic capital and crafting innovative financing mechanisms to address pressing social challenges.

Krutham sets the agenda at the intersection of investment strategies and pressing societal issues across African markets. Our impact investing team offers strategic advice and support to help you embrace impact-first investing through solutions grounded in thoughtful, considered research.

At Krutham, we design, implement and manage impact investment vehicles that address pressing social challenges. This includes the development of financing mechanisms, small business finance schemes and youth employment programmes. Our comprehensive approach encompasses policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, programme design and implementation support. We ensure initiatives are effective but also sustainable, aligning with broader development goals.

Our work includes

Produced the Impact Investing Handbook for Foundations

Produced an Impact Strategy Review for a South African foundation

Curated the Masterclass on impact investing for foundation teams

Accelerating Impact – research into legislative impediments to impact investing in South Africa

Produced two research papers on social impact bonds

We curate the Foundations Xchange Platform for South African corporate foundations.

Comprehensive capabilities

At Krutham, we believe financial systems are powerful mechanisms to improve human well-being. That is why we provide our clients with services that improve the effectiveness of relevant public policy, and design strategies to improve the functioning of institutions and financial systems to enable them to deliver better outcomes for people in their societies.

Multi-Impact investing aligns positive, measurable social and environmental impact with financial returns. These investments can target a range of returns from below-market to market rates, depending on the investors’ strategic goals.

We leverage a diverse capability set, spanning the entire continuum of capital from traditional and socially responsible investing to impact-first and philanthropic investing. Our unique offering to the market is being able to combine a deeply experienced capital market and financing expertise with experienced policy and social impact capabilities across the public and private sectors.

We are also committed to knowledge building and driving policy advocacy, actively contributing towards initiatives such as Accelerating Impact with research reports that strengthen the ecosystem for impact-driven interventions. We drive the Foundations Xchange Platform where South Africa’s corporate foundations come together each quarter to share and collaborate on the latest developments in impact investing.

Thought leadership

“In the traditional investing approach, positive (or negative) social outcomes are ‘externalities’, things that are external to the reasons for the investment. Such externalities can be nice to have but are seldom explicitly considered in investment decisions. Much of the [impact investing] discussion around the world over the last decade has been about how to get traditional investors to be more conscious of these externalities, indeed, to make them part of the investment decision. When traditional investors start doing this, they are becoming impact investors.” – Dr Stuart Theobald, Executive Chairman.

— Dr Stuart Theobald, Executive chairman
From Impact Investing: A Handbook for Foundations

Ready to transform your impact?

If you are looking to deploy your capital where the needs of society meet the catalytic ability of finance, Krutham’s impact investing team can help you design and implement impact finance solutions that work.