London Office | 65 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 2AD Nairobi Office | CMS-Africa, Pioneer Point, Chania Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya
Currently in its pilot phase, Wellers Impact and Water Unite have partnered to create the Water Unite Pilot Investment Vehicle (WUPIV).
WUPIV will provide risk-tolerant capital to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the water, sanitation and plastics recycling sectors who are contributing to addressing the following three global challenges:
2 billion
people globally who live without sanitation facilities.
300 million
tonnes of plastic produced annually, of which less than 10% is recycled.
785 million
people globally who live without access to safe water.
WUPIV will address the funding gaps in parts of the financing ecosystem not met through charitable foundations, microfinance institutions, commercial banks and/or formal capital markets. In time, it endeavours to be catalytic, bringing together new private sector investors, retailers and other existing participants in the water, sanitation and plastics recycling sectors.
Structure of the Investment Vehicle
The WUPIV has been structured using an innovative financial model to leverage greater private sector capital into the water, sanitation and plastics recycling sectors and to build long-term financial sustainability of the investees. It will demonstrate a creative way of enabling each dollar of funding to support more than one organisation to generate social and environmental impact multiple times over.
The investment vehicle will be structured using micro-levy contributions from international retailers to provide catalytic capital. This capital is used to take a higher risk-reward position, acting as a credit enhancement mechanism to leverage additional Senior Capital from additional select Investor Partners. The Senior Capital will be protected by the Catalytic First Loss Tranche Capital, as they will rank higher in the pecking order in a default scenario. Through the portfolio of investments made, the WUPIV forecasts to deliver a positive financial return to Investor Partners.
© Adam Dickens | Taking Pictures, Changing Lives
WUPIV will have a significant leveraging effect: attracting external expertise and commercial capital into achieving social impact.
The diagram below depicts the innovative financial structure for WUPIV:
Currently, in a pilot phase, WUPIV’s objectives are to validate the following:
-
Ability of WUPIV to achieve social impact and generate early positive financial returns in the water, sanitation and plastics recycling sector
-
Amplified contribution to the UN SDGs due to leveraging effect of the proposed structure
-
Demonstrate availability of a pipeline of diverse SMEs that fit the defined investment strategies
Wellers Impact is continuing to seek interested Investor Partners who have aligned impact and financial objectives with WUPIV. Please contact us to learn more.
Retail Donations
Retail partners make a donation, through a 1 cent/penny per litre of water sold, to Water Unite. Water Unite uses these donations for grants towards WUPIV. Current retail partners include:
Water Unite
Water Unite is a UK based, non-profit organisation that works in partnership with the private sector to raise and invest funds for clean water sanitation and plastics recycling. Funds are raised via voluntary donations of around one cent per litre from retailers of bottled water. Started in 2018, Water Unite is supported by The Co-operative (UK), Elior UK, The Rockefeller Foundation, Stone, Vitol and One Foundations.
If you are a retailer interested in partnering with Water Unite please visit waterunite.org.