Sustainability is integrated into our approach, convictions and culture. Silk Invest aims to generate positive risk-adjusted returns through its investment analysis, its operational standards and by implementing ESG standards in its core investment strategies. As a firm, Silk Invest believes that it can contribute to a more sustainable world through its organisation and its investment strategies. Beyond ESG standards, Silk Invest has actively supported local NGOs in several of its core Frontier Markets, addressing issues ranging from Gender Equality to poverty. Our approach builds on becoming a catalyst for long-term positive change in employment creation, poverty alleviation, energy transition, and social change.
The firm has, since its launch, included impact and ESG criteria in its investment approach and has been a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing since 2011. The implementation of ESG philosophy differs by investment strategy and product but the main focus of its approach is to invest in solid companies and management teams with sustainable business models. Silk Invest among others excluded extractive industries from its Frontier Markets strategy as early as 2010 and started to include formal gender investment criteria in its investment approach in 2013. Silk Invest uses a best in class approach as the basis of its ESG assessments and relies on a combination of internal and external research.
Silk Invest has over the years supported different local foundations that are aligned with the firm’s world view. We contributed to NGOs supporting a range of areas including education, health and women empowerment in several of our local markets, including Pakistan, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco.