IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Advance Global Capital Limited
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Financial and Economic Inclusion
Gender EqualityFirm Overview
Advance Global Capital, a global impact investment management company, believes that private capital, when invested well, can be a force for good. We work with investors who want measurable, positive impact that aligns with their values alongside good financial returns. Our flagship fund puts capital to work in underserved communities worldwide by financing small and medium businesses (SMEs that lack sufficient access to credit and need it to thrive. Our investments deliver tailored financing to partners, and flexible working capital to SMEs so they can grow and continue positively impacting their local economies.
Years of Operation: 10 years or more
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: 25% – 49%
Our funds put capital to work in underserved communities in real economies worldwide by financing invoices for small and medium businesses (SMEs) who lack sufficient access to credit but need working capital to thrive.
AGC specializes in extending capital to SMEs in emerging and underserved markets, particularly focusing on women-led businesses, through partnerships with local financial institutions. Our investments deliver tailored financing to partners, and flexible working capital to SMEs so they can grow and continue positively impacting their local economies. Financial goals: We aim to provide investors with access to a globally diversified portfolio with exposure to small and medium businesses, generating market-rate, risk-adjusted, non-correlated returns with low volatility. Impact goals: Our investments apply environmental, social and governance (ESG) screens as well as actively working to address financial inclusion, increasing SME survival, growth and jobs, creating more economic opportunities for women and strengthening local financial ecosystems. Our team: Combined experience in nearly 100 countries in the areas of investment management, trade finance, asset-based lending, foreign exchange management, impact investing and small business development.
We don't believe we have a peer group, however sometimes we are compared to trade finance funds. Experienced and diverse team – professionals in impact investing, trade finance, asset-based lending, FX management, and SME business development, particularly in developing economies. SME funding specialists – a global pipeline of partners, inclusive SME financing, customized legal agreements, and structures to protect investors, as well as back-office expertise. Portfolio diversification – we operate across 18 industry sectors and 7 worldwide regions. Measurable, positive impact without sacrificing returns – working with local financial institutions, we invest in the real economic activity of SMEs. Our fund is aligned with UN SDGs 5, 8, 9 and 10. AGC is also a signatory of the UN-supported PRI. Non-correlated returns – our fund provides support to local SMEs that are relatively inelastic to global economic cycles in countries with economic stability and reasonable rule of law.
Investment Example
Our impact story follows the narrative of Ms Jovia Kagezi, and her resilience toward the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurialism. During our visit to Uganda at the start of the year, AGC’s experience was enriched by the stories of the nation’s SMEs, especially Jovia’s. However, we soon learned how Jovia’s journey in the agriculture sector was not without constraints caused by traditional attitudes around gender. Compounded by barriers she experienced while navigating the sector as a woman, Jovia would face many setbacks before discovering the opportunity to stabilize her business with support from AGC’s partner. Her story underscores the reality for many women in the agricultural workforce in Uganda.
Leadership and Team
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Hendrik Van Deventer – Chief Executive Officer More Info
Hendrik is CEO and has responsibility for supporting strategic objectives with respect to assets under management and profitability while ensuring the smooth management, operation and development of AGC. Together with the investment team, he is also responsible for securing and managing the global investment pipeline from initial prospecting efforts through to closing and beyond. As an experienced credit portfolio manager with deep expertise in credit underwriting, portfolio management and debt recovery, he heads up and oversees all investments that AGC makes globally in both developed and emerging markets, including Latin America, North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asia. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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We deliver predictable, positive, net impact to addresses the systemic exclusion of small, women-led businesses from financial services. We seek to increase financial inclusion, support SME growth and job creation, strengthen local financial ecosystems and create more economic opportunities for women. We accomplish this through a combination of a fund strategy designed to meet the needs of women-led SMEs, strong support from shareholders, clear policies and procedures and governance where impact is considered at every stage of the investment process including the investment committee. We are also committed to rigorous measurement and management of our impact. We collect impact data from both our partners and their SME clients. Last year we conducted SME surveys with 38 of our partners, in 16 countries. We compare our impact performance relative prior years as well as to external benchmarks to ensure we are making progress towards our impact goals.
Impact is embedded throughout the investment process — from the choice of factoring as our core product because it overcomes gender bias to actively seeking tech-enabled, women-led financing partners who share our passion for financing small and medium businesses to a feedback mechanism for SME stakeholder voices through our annual survey — impact is fully integrated in both what we do and how we do it. We manage alignment of environmental, social, governance and impact considerations through our ESGI Policy and memorandum of understanding. For most of our partners, we are their first international and first impact investor so these tools allow for systematic engagement and allow us to work with them to make incremental progress over time. For example, prior to disbursing funds, partners sign our ESGI MOU and we discuss why certain transactions are excluded for ESG reasons and why we seek to create more opportunities for women.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
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60 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6NP, United Kingdom
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