EOI’s Now Open for Groundswell Regional WA Impact Investment Readiness Program
Expressions of Interest are now open for social enterprises and impact businesses creating impact IN REGIONAL WESTERN AUSTRALIA to seek Impact Seed’s incubation and development support through our Groundswell Impact Investment Readiness Project.
Open exclusively to impact entrepreneurs and social enterprises whose primary mission is to create social and environmental impact in and for regional Western Australian communities, this program provides bespoke and practical development support, advice, mentoring and referrals that will support you on your commercialisation and impact investment pathway.
The goal of the 2021 Impact Investment Readiness Program is two fold:
1) To support regional WA social enterprises who are starting out on their journey with the necessary tools and skills to nurture their business thinking and growth,
2) To support impact entrepreneurs who have established business models and are on a growth path to develop their investment readiness through impact investment opportunities such as blended finance and the WA Impact Fund. Depending upon enterprise stage and maturity, successful applicants will receive:
- Practical one on one development support for their social enterprises on the pathway towards commercialisation and investment readiness
- Access to Impact Seed’s social enterprise development toolkits and resources, and professional mentoring and connections through the Impact Seed network
A limited round 2 is now open, closing Friday 2 April. Places are strictly limited and will be assessed on a first-and-best qualification basis.
Definitions
A Social Enterprise is a business that exists to deliver a measurable social, cultural or environmental impact. It derives most of its revenue from trading and it reinvests a significant proportion of its profit in furthering its mission.
Impact Investment sees investors actively seek out funding opportunities that are focused on generating actively measured social, cultural and environmental impacts, alongside a sustainable financial return. The result allows investors to sustainability contribute to their communities while meeting their investment objectives.
Types of impact investment include early or late stage funding for social enterprises, or equity/debt investment into investable impact projects in areas as diverse as housing, clean energy, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry; It can also be supported through instruments such as social procurement (mandating a target for purchasing through social enterprises, or pay for performance contracts such as social impact bonds.
This project is enabled through the WA State Government’s Regional New Industries Fund, with generous support from Commonland and Spacecubed Foundation, as well as our community partners including Sefa and Impact Investment Group.
Impact Investment and Commonland’s Four Returns
Impact investment is about re-imagining the economy to be one where finance and profit is not the primary motive; where communities, especially the most disadvantaged, and the planet come first, and the economy supports the thriving of individuals, families, whole communities and the environment as a connected whole. Building investment readiness for Western Australia’s leading impact investment projects will catalyse and accelerate the transition to this new economy and signal to the rest of the traditional business and government stakeholders better economic thinking.
Impact ventures by their nature target employment opportunities for some of the most socially and financially marginalised people in our communities. Evidence shows that low socio-economic communities are far more reliant on extended families for their economic and social wellbeing, and that when one family member is uplifted from financial dependence or marginalisation, whole families benefit. By creating social enterprises and impact ventures which can create future skilled jobs and training in regional areas for individuals who are currently marginalised or welfare dependent, per capita income goes up concurrently with welfare and social service industry dependence going down .
We envision a regenerative way of driving change in the key industries underpinning regional Western Australia’s communities and economy, including mining, agriculture, tourism and services:
- Tourism led by communities and First Nations people, leveraging bush harvest and traditional knowledge, sustainable practices and democratised ownership,
- Services industries which are circular, and account for inputs, outputs and waste throughout the value chain; and prioritise people and planet and local impact over profit for far flung shareholders,
- Mining which transitions from fossil fuels to renewables, reduces its environmental footprint and importantly, for the largest industry in WA, re-invests heavily in restorative and regenerative natural resource ventures and partnerships with WA’s First Nations groups,
- Agriculture where holistic regenerative farming practices are the norm, and regional communities and their environments rebuild and flourish through values-aligned and value-added industries, social procurement and creation of local, circular economies.
The Groundswell Impact Investment Readiness Program will select for and target these types of enterprises for support.
By definition, impact investment is about creating sustainable financial returns alongside measurable social, environmental and cultural impact. Our ethos is about rebalancing the seat of power from financial capital alone to land and labour. Through sustainable investment, not seeking returns at any cost’, financial capital will be returned to local communities and projects which ultimately secure impact investment, alongside investor returns.
