Apis seeks to create positive impact through our portfolio companies - they serve low and middle-income consumers (directly and indirectly), create good quality employment, and contribute to the deepening of the financial sector in these regions.
We also recognise the importance of rigorous environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles in building responsible and enduring relationships for sustainable value creation in Growth Markets – we actively encourage portfolio companies to maintain solid ESG principles in order to maximise impact in our target geographies.
A focus on financial inclusion
A core tenet of Apis’ investment mandate is the recognition and promotion of financial inclusion, which fulfils the fundamental needs of underprivileged and disenfranchised segments of the population to provide paths out of poverty.
Apis is a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UN PRI).
Apis’ portfolio companies collectively span a significant scale of impact
Our portfolio companies are at the forefront of the drivers of financial inclusion - they design affordable and suitable financial services/products, and distribute them via low-cost and convenient channels; they use new data sources to assess credit risk and enhance operational efficiency, and champion progressive Financial Services regulation.
25.8 million
Individual clients served directly, and over 32,500 organisational clients served
241,500
Financial Services distribution touch points in 138 countries of operation
16 million
Over 16 million full-time employees across Africa and Asia, 32% female
471 million
Transactions processed, worth US$ 8.4 billion
A focus on sustainability
We are concerned with the long-term sustainability of the impact we help to create and utilise a “for profit, impact filtered” approach to making investments for sustainable value creation. With this approach, Apis believes there are no economic trade-offs when investing for impact – generating financial returns alongside social impact.
Apis’ Code of Responsibility
Our Code of Responsibility sets out requirements, recommendations and management systems to invest responsibly. Through this Code, Apis works closely with portfolio companies to make required improvements to build sustainable value creation into the core operations of their businesses. This starts with basic compliance requirements and works towards the adoption of internationally recognised standards of best practice.