Sustainable investments

The name Alquity represents the coming together of Altruism and Equity, the letter A representing the three core pillars upon which the Alquity investment model is based:

Attractive Returns =

a carefully formulated strategy to maximize long term investment opportunities;

Sustainable Investment =

environmental, social and governance factors directly affect long term business profitability, therefore an investment approach which addresses these issues is crucial to effective stock selection;

Transforming Lives =

supporting communities at a grass roots level to enable them to start small scale businesses which will create jobs and help move people out of poverty.

We call this the virtuous circle of investment

Alquity believes that Ethical and sustainability issues have the potential to create or destroy long-term shareholder value in the companies in which the fund invests. Understanding and dealing with these risks and opportunities is a key element of Alquity’s philosophy in managing the Africa Fund and is consistent with protecting the long-term interests of the fund’s investors.

Alquity is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment and is guided by the ten international standards for business as set out by the United Nations Global Compact.

Alquity places particular emphasis on identifying companies that have sustainable business models and are able to maximize financial returns to the investor over the long term. This means analysing the operations of companies to ensure that they are not based on a short-term exploitation of new markets or resources. It also means taking an intelligent view of how ESG relates to the particular circumstances in which a company is operating and how international standards can be applied to very specific, evolving local markets.

ESG is integrated into the investment process at four points in particular:

• An initial ESG review is conducted as part of reducing the overall investment universe down to a more manageable pool for further research and analysis.
• The subsequent evaluation of individual stocks in this pool includes in-depth ESG analysis.
• Portfolio monitoring and management includes ESG tracking and, where appropriate, company engagement.
• Alquity also undertakes strategic engagement and advocacy to promote sustainable and responsible business practices in Africa as a whole.