How we identify, measure, monitor and enhance impact
PRE INVESTMENT
- We check prospective investments against the Bamboo Finance social impact screening criteria. That is, the company improves access, affordability, suitability of essential products or services for low income people.
- We conduct an analysis based on publicly available information to establish fit with social criteria and overall investment readiness.
- We send a preliminary social performance/impact assessment questionnaire is submitted to the prospective investee. The questionnaire is used to collect general information on the company, the product/service, the extent and depth of outreach and the sources of impact (number of people reached and socio economic sectors, estimated income generation potential etc., company practices, mission, social goals, certifications, etc.)2.
- We visit the head offices, branches, and subsidiaries, meet with management, clients, regulatory bodies (when necessary), competitors, etc. to verify business model, governance structure, compliance issues, verify target customers reached and impact thesis and available impact data.
- An investment memo is prepared and submitted to the investment committee, it contains a description of the current outreach and impact as well as an indication of the expected impact.
INVESTMENT:
- Together with the investee, we define an Impact Framework (IF). The IF maps the impact of the company from its mission and social goals to the selected output indicators on which the investee will report on a quarterly basis. The IF also defines assumptions used.
POST INVESTMENT:
- Investees send us quarterly reports on the list of indicators in the Impact Framework. We monitor data collected and review assumptions based on new evidence. Through this monitoring process we seek to capture and assess information that we believe will support performance improvements. Also, as an equity investor, Bamboo Finance sits on the board of its investees overseeing and contributing to social performance and impact issues alongside financial matters.
DIVESTMENT:
- We seek to divest to trustworthy investors who will allow and enable the organizations to pursue their missions and visions. We also aim for organized, simple, fair and transparent divestment processes.
2 For the Bamboo Financial Inclusion Fund investments, the tool used is ASPIRE, our proprietary social performance scorecard.