We base our investment decision predominantly on the following criteria:

• Development Impact: The project must endow measurable social impact and contribute to poverty alleviation.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: The project must operate on markets, striving for financial sustainability.
• Investment leverage: We facilitate access to soft funding where this makes businesses eligible for further, market based, funding.
• Scaling up/ Replicability: The project must have significant potential for scaling up or replication, to maximize social and/or environmental impact if proven successful.
• Management Capacity: Positive references and second opinions from the GEXSI network are very important to us; entrepreneurs should have strong management capacities, be ready to learn from others and to cooperate with GEXSI and other partners.

For information on social businesses which have been supported by us or which have been shortlisted for a BoP Fund investment, please refer to our project site.