Our Impact Mission
At the core of every investment and decision we make at Vital is our impact mission. Our goal is to improve economic, personal and social well-being for low and middle-income communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Improved economic, personal and
social well-being for low and middle-income
communities in sub-Saharan Africa
Consult our latest report, Evolving Impact, for more insights on our transformation to a mission driven approach.
An Outcome Based Approach
Refining our focus, we have broken down our mission into four distinct but interrelated outcomes. We believe that investing in businesses that tackle these four broad themes will feed directly into tangible improvements in the economic, personal and social well-being of our target populations.
Vital Essentials
Increased access to food, clean water, healthcare, housing and other essentials which are currently inaccessible (unaffordable or unavailable) to our target communities
Vital Employment
Increased quality skilled and unskilled job opportunities to improve economic well-being and social mobility
Vital Capabilities
Increased local capacity and know-how which will result in sustainable, long-term improvement in well-being
Vital Infrastructure
Improved infrastructure to provide for safe, connected and sustainable environments which facilitate economic growth and improved well-being
Managing Impact
Translating our approach into practice, we have established an investment process that integrates impact considerations at every stage. Industry-standard benchmarks as well as proprietary tools help us to evaluate each investment in terms of its potential and actual, short- and long-term impact.
Screening & Profiling
Gating Factors
Profit Orientation Responsible Investment
Impact Profiling
Vital Impact Diamond
Monitoring & Measurements
Outputs
Internal KPI’s
GIIRS
Outcomes
Long term impact assesments
The Vital Impact Diamond
Used at both the screening and management stages, the Vital Impact Diamond profiles each investment with respect to four criteria: essentiality, beneficiaries, locality and intrinsic impact. By asking to what extent an investment is targeting a pressing need and contributing to the development of a particular area and population, we ensure that each investment contributes to our overall impact mission.
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Impact Measurement and Results
Measuring the impact of our investments is key to our ongoing efforts to improve and refine our approach. We use internal KPIs for both output and some outcome-level data, GIIRS (Global Impact Investing Rating System) evaluations as a third-party verification of our performance, as well as dedicated, bespoke evaluations per portfolio company.
Recently, we also developed our own methodology for evaluating the Fund’s contribution to the global effort surrounding the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which we see as the guiding torch for positive development.
Want to learn how we create our impact?
Download our reports and get all the insights you need.
