Good Return takes home the prize at the recent Australian Impact Investment Awards
Good Return takes home the prize at the recent Australian Impact Investment Awards
Pictured L to R:
Stuart Mkojera-Thomson (Good Business Foundation), Judy Foster, Diana Tjoeng and Shane Nichols (Good Return), Rebecca Parkinson (DFAT)
Launched in 2020, Good Return’s inaugural Impact Investment Fund has provided much needed capital to hundreds of women across Asia-Pacific, many of whom would have otherwise struggled to access finance. These women entrepreneurs run small and medium sized businesses, particularly in agriculture, ventures that are often deemed too risky for traditional banks yet too large for microfinance institutions. We call these borrowers the “missing middle”.
Through this $1 million blended finance fund, we’ve enabled over $5 million in loans to more than 600 women entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Cambodia. This capital has helped them expand their businesses, employ more people in their community, and boost the local economy.
In late March our impact investment team, including Managing Director Shane Nichols and Head of Asia and Impact Investments, Diana Tjoeng, attended the awards night for the Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific, hosted by Impact Investing Hub. We were honoured and humbled to be named joint winners in the Emerging Markets category, alongside our peers at Leapfrog Investments. The Emerging Markets category was sponsored by Australian Department Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Celebrating this achievement with us were two of our valued investors; Stuart Mkojera-Thomson from The Good Business Foundation, and Susan Clear from Macquarie Group Foundation.
We are very proud of the impact the fund has made so far, so we are pleased to share that Good Return’s Impact Investment Fund 2 is now open to investors. The new fund will provide opportunities for even more women to build resilient businesses and livelihoods, and to take this impact further. Click here to find out more - https://goodreturn.org.au/impact-investing