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Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?

The study primarily explores whether private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) integrate sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) practices in their investment processes. Also examined were the influences, opportunities and challenges...

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Main Author: Dhlamini, Xolisa
Other Authors: Giamporcaro, Stephanie
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Research of GSB 2018
Subjects:
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access_status_str Open Access
author Dhlamini, Xolisa
author2 Giamporcaro, Stephanie
author_browse Dhlamini, Xolisa
Giamporcaro, Stephanie
author_facet Giamporcaro, Stephanie
Dhlamini, Xolisa
author_sort Dhlamini, Xolisa
collection Thesis
description The study primarily explores whether private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) integrate sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) practices in their investment processes. Also examined were the influences, opportunities and challenges associated with Southern African PE and VC firms adopting and implementing SRI towards sustainable growth and development in the SADC region. A field study conducted with 41 PE & VC firms as well as 6 DFI's operating in the SADC region found that PE & VC firms integrated ESG factors in their investment management processes despite the majority having no formal SRI policies. ESG integration was integrated mainly for risk management and as part of the overall business strategy. Corporate governance was top of agenda followed by social and environmental aspects. Awareness for Codes for Responsible Investing in South Africa (CRISA) was very poor amongst the PE & VC firms. PE & VC firms also found little value in becoming signatories of the UNPRI. The PE & VC firms anticipated minimal or no impact to their respective businesses if ESG were to be integrated formally and consistently. PE & VC firms agreed that ESG risks should be actively managed and that the investment holding periods enable them to manage ESG effectively, however, a number of challenges hinder the integration of ESG in SADC such as difficultly in sourcing standard ESG information, translation of the information into quantitative measures, insufficient skills among professionals to assess or link ESG factors to investment performance and the lack of clear regulatory & legislative guidance in effective ESG integration. A recommendation is for PE & VC firms to formalise SRI policies as the first steps towards consistent integration of ESG in investment making processes. Further recommendations are for remuneration of PE & VC professionals to be aligned directly to ESG performance and for investors such as DFI's to be more proactive in monitoring their appointed PE & VC managers (particularly in auditing of ESG performance reports compiled by the PE & VC firms.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:14.840Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2018
publishDateRange 2018
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publisher Research of GSB
publisherStr Research of GSB
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29010 Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution? Dhlamini, Xolisa Giamporcaro, Stephanie Development Finance The study primarily explores whether private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) integrate sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) practices in their investment processes. Also examined were the influences, opportunities and challenges associated with Southern African PE and VC firms adopting and implementing SRI towards sustainable growth and development in the SADC region. A field study conducted with 41 PE & VC firms as well as 6 DFI's operating in the SADC region found that PE & VC firms integrated ESG factors in their investment management processes despite the majority having no formal SRI policies. ESG integration was integrated mainly for risk management and as part of the overall business strategy. Corporate governance was top of agenda followed by social and environmental aspects. Awareness for Codes for Responsible Investing in South Africa (CRISA) was very poor amongst the PE & VC firms. PE & VC firms also found little value in becoming signatories of the UNPRI. The PE & VC firms anticipated minimal or no impact to their respective businesses if ESG were to be integrated formally and consistently. PE & VC firms agreed that ESG risks should be actively managed and that the investment holding periods enable them to manage ESG effectively, however, a number of challenges hinder the integration of ESG in SADC such as difficultly in sourcing standard ESG information, translation of the information into quantitative measures, insufficient skills among professionals to assess or link ESG factors to investment performance and the lack of clear regulatory & legislative guidance in effective ESG integration. A recommendation is for PE & VC firms to formalise SRI policies as the first steps towards consistent integration of ESG in investment making processes. Further recommendations are for remuneration of PE & VC professionals to be aligned directly to ESG performance and for investors such as DFI's to be more proactive in monitoring their appointed PE & VC managers (particularly in auditing of ESG performance reports compiled by the PE & VC firms. 2018-11-06T14:03:37Z 2018-11-06T14:03:37Z 2012 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29010 eng application/pdf Research of GSB Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Development Finance
Dhlamini, Xolisa
Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
title_full Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
title_fullStr Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
title_short Sustainable & responsible private equity in Southern Africa: evolutionary strides in a revolution?
title_sort sustainable responsible private equity in southern africa evolutionary strides in a revolution
topic Development Finance
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29010
work_keys_str_mv AT dhlaminixolisa sustainableresponsibleprivateequityinsouthernafricaevolutionarystridesinarevolution