The Tony Elumelu Foundation is one of 15 GIIRS Pioneer Investors who declared as part of their impact investing strategy an investment preference for GIIRS-rated funds and companies. Pioneer Investors will also use GIIRS Ratings to measure the impact of their impact investment portfolios.

Since its inception in 2010, TEF has been a champion of the concept of mobilising capital to generate robust financial returns and advance social wealth from serving Africa’s emerging markets. The Foundation’s inaugural impact investment deal in Mtanga Farms Limited, a mixed arable farming operation in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania touches the everyday lives of hundreds of thousands of low-income people in the rural areas of the country by improving farmers’ access to inputs, technology and markets. The Foundation is well recognised in its dedication to the economic transformation of Africa by enhancing the competitiveness and growth through the African private sector.

GIIRS is a comprehensive and transparent system for assessing the social and environmental impact of developed and emerging market companies and funds with a ratings and analytics approach analogous to Morningstar investment rankings and Capital IQ financial analytics. It seeks to spark the impact investment movement by providing a tool that is intended to change investor behaviour and unlock the potential of this new asset class. For more information, visit http://www.giirs.org/.