Adlevo Capital: Discussing the Importance of Sustainability and Social Contribution

Folabi Esan, Partner at Adlevo Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments into technology-enabled companies across sub-Saharan Africa, discusses the importance of investing into companies cognizant of sustainability, the environment and social issues.

“All of us have a role in sustaining the earth which is where we all draw vitality from. If there are no environments that we can live in, then there is no point. If we are all on a sinking ship, then it is just a matter of time. We have to be cognizant of that. All the evolutions of the stories from PPP, bottom line, venture philanthropy are just extensions of the same thing that we must live in harmony with the earth. From the very beginning, we have always had social development at the heart of our operations because we are in emerging markets in Africa mostly. We want to make sure that companies’ activities on the health of the employees and members of communities is positive. We want integration into the global economy because we believe that that is how you get sustained growth and you contribute to the well-being of your own country. We look at reduction of poverty. We can see that the companies we invest in are creating jobs and have above average wages. We want to have environmental stewardship which is very direct. We want to be sure that those companies do not degrade the environment. We want people to develop skills, grow their capacity, and contribute to the economies where they are. These were things that we came up with at the beginning of our journey and we still hold on to them. We measure the companies along these qualitative lines. It is fundamental. It is a losing game to pollute your own environment. It is a losing game to abuse your employees or to take advantage of employees. It is a losing game to take advantage of a community”, says Folabi Esan.

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