Belgian impact finance firm Kois Invest began working on an impact bond for job creation for refugees in 2016 in response to the refugee crisis, funded through a grant from non-profit Convergence in Canada.
The goal is to create a bond structure in which private investors supply working capital to service providers that are delivering evidence-based livelihood programmes to Syrian refugees. Investors are paid back if and when social outcomes are achieved, with a financial return that varies with the level of social impact.
Kois is now in the final stages of structuring the multi-service provider bond and hopes to launch the deal early to mid next year.
Despite large amounts of private-sector money being committed to financing refugee-related investments, very few deals have taken place. This is now beginning to change.
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Justin Sykes, |
Justin Sykes is the founder of Innovest Advisory, a boutique impact investment firm that has been looking at matching private clients with refugee-related investments over the last three years. He says that momentum seems to be growing.
“We’ve had a period of inertia and frustration where large, high-level commitments to refugee investments haven’t translated into deals,” he says.
