Our Philosophy on Socially Responsible Investments

We believe that as investors, we have a responsibility to make investments that are responsible from a social and environmental point of view. Over and above that we are acutely aware of the opportunity that we have for our investments to not just be responsible but also a major catalyst for the social advance in the areas in which we are investing.

Creating sustainable solutions

We believe that poverty alleviation lies in sustainable solutions that are led by local communities. Our goal is to empower people to make their own future a bright one. This is an ongoing process and is not a one-off exercise.

 

A hand up, not a hand out

We believe that enabling private enterprise is the key to offering people an economic ladder to improve their family’s position through honest effort.

Our goal is to support and to enable the creation of small and medium sized enterprises in the areas in which we operate.

High Corporate Standards

All of the companies we invest into will need to abide by our Social Responsibility Policy. These standards will cover labour practices, environmental impact and business practices.

With our stakeholders, including customers, suppliers and contractors, we are aiming to meet the UN target outlined in the Millennium Development Goals in the communities in which we work.

Supporting Developmental Needs

We believe that we should be aware of local developmental needs and to seek to alleviate these needs in a pro-active way. Whilst the local economy in the areas in which we are operating may be improving through long term development, there are often immediate issues that need addressing.

 
This varies from community to community. We use a participatory process that starts with measuring the poverty status of the community from their perspective and brings them together to plan their way forward.

“History demonstrates that a flourishing, responsible private sector, built on a broad base of enterprise, including small and medium sized enterprises and well-regulated foreign direct investment, has been key to delivering the sort of economic growth in developing countries that we know pulls poor people out of poverty."

Enterprise solutions to poverty. A Report by Shell Foundation March 2005