From Crowdfunding
to Impact

Impact report 2022

“We live in uncertain times here in Europe. Since a very long time we have a war close to home. And never was intelligence so artificial. In the midst of all of this and more, many of us try to adjust the way we live our lives, as we have become more conscious of the finite resources that our planet has to offer, and the many ways in which societal and climate inequality is rearing its ugly head (especially in developing countries).

Yes - in that light changing our behavior is a good thing to do. But for transformative change, we need to think hard about how we put our money to work for good. In an ideal world, we invest it such that we spread wealth and growth opportunities to create a fairer and more sustainable world.

But in order to see that, we need to understand what ‘success on an investment’ really means. When it comes to investing, people tend to think in terms of return and risk. But if investing is about securing the future, we should include impact to that as well. After all, even if we have more money in the future, there is less that we can do with it or let alone enjoy it, if there is more injustice and immensely sincere concerns about the sustainability of planet earth.

Lendahand started as a crowdfunding website, but has evolved to a platform that all European people can use to secure the future. We provide balance in the triangle of return-risk-impact. That is why I’m honored to introduce to you the Lendahand Impact Report 2022. It tells a story about people like you and me, creating positive impact despite all the challenges we face today.”

Koen The - CEO & Co-founder Lendahand

The Sustainable Impact Fund from ABN AMRO (AASIF) invests in impact-minded, but already successful companies, that work on social, circular, and energy topics.

Convinced by the importance of the impact made by Lendahand, AASIF invested in the crowdfunding platform in May 2022.

Eric Buckens, Director of the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund talks about believing in Lendahand.

What made AASIF invest in Lendahand?

“The Lendahand model just makes sense. The way you want to make an impact is aligned with the problem you want to tackle.

You connect the right funders with companies that create an important social impact.

Lendahand triggers a capital flow to emerging markets in a transparent way, showing us that it is indeed possible to make an impact through crowdfunding.”

Is the Lendahand model innovative?

“You’re driving a transition in the economy. The business model creates synergy between crowdfunding as an innovative model to finance entrepreneurs in emerging markets and making an impact.

Banks are conservative, and if we want to change the system, we should look beyond direct results.

The financial sector is crucial in the economy, so innovation that can positively change it is a significant victory."

Is real change actually happening?

“A mind shift is already happening as we record a rise in social enterprises.

It’s in our best interest that Lendahand keeps growing, as it directly means that more impact is being made and the transition towards a different financial sector is happening.”

A few words for our crowd investors?

"You're part of the bigger picture. Diversify your portfolio to spread the risks.

Emerging markets tend to be strong in overcoming crises and grow to such a degree that you will be rewarded for your trust and investment in the long run.

In this model, your potential reward allows you to repeat the process over and over.”

How we make impact

In emerging markets, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the strongest drivers of employment, innovation, and economic development. Access to finance is frequently identified as a critical barrier to growth for MSMEs. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the current finance gap is estimated to be approximately $5 trillion, which is 1.3 times the current level of MSME lending.

Impact investors who crowdfund entrepreneurs in emerging markets through Lendahand contribute to filling this finance gap making a huge difference in alleviating poverty in emerging markets. Their investments allow many hard-working but underserved people to get access to affordable financing they need to grow their businesses. It is the key to financial inclusion, which unlocks an impact pathway for inclusive and sustainable economic development and better livelihoods in contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Theory of Change

Interested to learn more about how we manage and measure impact?

Head to the Lendahand impact framework guide.

Impact figures 2022

Investors accomplished the following impact results over the last year

Financial Impact

Total amount disbursed by Lendahand, Energise Africa excluded.

Number of crowdfunding campaigns funded by Lendahand.

Number of active companies in Lendahand’s investment portfolio.

Total investments raised

Crowdfunding campaigns

Portfolio companies

€21,339,350

Proportion of women-owned businesses in Lendahand’s investment portfolio.

Number of countries investments were made in indicated time period.

Number of active investors on Lendahand.

Women-owned business

Countries

Investors

46%

6,166

Social Impact

Number of direct jobs and indirect jobs supported within or by portfolio companies.

An estimate of the positive impact perceived by beneficiaries reached through portfolio companies.

Jobs supported

Lives improved

25,322

83,032

Access to Clean Energy

Number of solar home systems installed in households.

Number of solar systems installed for productive use.

Number of biogas digesters installed at agribusinesses.

Solar home systems

installed

Solar home systems

for productive use

Biogas digesters installed

6,449

1,750

Number of people who lived in a house with an improved off-grid energy source (i.e. solar).

Metric tons of carbon dioxide averted. Based on estimated reduction in kerosene lantern use.

People with improved

energy access

Tons CO2 avoided

46,647

38,419

Judith Mathijssen -

Impact Manager at Lendahand

"Lendahand envisions creating positive and inclusive change to the benefit of people in emerging markets, which is our main driver for how we do business. By making conscious investment decisions and being transparent about it, we want to ensure that the money of our crowd is used for good.

Let me take you on the journey we made last year to raise the bar in how we effectively manage and measure our impact in a rapidly changing and uncertain world:

As part of the partnership with ABN AMRO Sustainable Investment Fund, Lendahand has been subjected to an external impact due diligence by Impact Institute. This valuable assessment confirmed that Lendahand is creating a significant impact on society, but also pointed out areas for improvement. Eager to improve, we rolled up our sleeves to put even more emphasis on impact in our activities.

In 2022, we focused on connecting the dots in how we do impact management and improving our impact measurement.

We strengthened the alignment of our impact objectives with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to better understand our contribution to key global challenges.
With the support of Steward Redqueen, we have implemented an Environmental and Social Management System to improve the assessment and mitigation of potential adverse effects of our investments.
We installed an Impact Committee to ensure that impact is well embedded in our investment decisions.
Getting reliable, accurate and comparable impact data from our portfolio companies has always been a challenge. Therefore, we teamed up with Atlas who is now supporting us in collecting this type of data, which is proudly presented in this report.

We feel that it is our responsibilty to be transparent on our positive and adverse contribution to the wellbeing of people and planet. It’s part of a continuous learning cycle which requires us to be flexible and pivot our impact strategy when needed. We believe in the power of our growing partnerships to make this happen. Moreover, we are part of a larger ecosystem to drive social and environmental change for underserved people in emerging markets."