Evolutionary Awards 2025 – Old Mutual Alternative Investments: the greatest impact

Category: The greatest impact

Describe your evolution:

At Old Mutual Alternative Investments, we have undergone a purposeful and significant evolution shaped by our longstanding commitment to responsible investing, sustainability and transformative impact.

Since 2000, we have been recognised as a pioneering force within Africa’s private alternative investment landscape. With a track record of over twenty-five years of impact investing, we have an intimate understanding of the continent’s unique challenges and opportunities and a responsibility to leverage investment capital not just for profit, but to make a meaningful impact while generating returns for investors.

At the core of our evolution is the progressive integration of sustainability and ESG principles into our investment philosophy and daily operations. Initially, ESG considerations were employed mainly as tools for managing risk and compliance, forming part of a basic due diligence checklist. However, with a growing global consciousness of climate risks, social inequalities and governance imperatives, our approach has matured significantly.

With ESG and Sustainability now deeply embedded in our investment processes as a critical component through which all investments are scrutinised, executed and managed, moving far beyond risk mitigation to become an essential driver of value creation and positive change.

To achieve this depth of integration, we recognised early on that a generic approach would be insufficient. The diverse nature of our investment activities, including private equity, hybrid capital, impact investing, infrastructure debt, and diversified credit necessitated customised sustainability and ESG frameworks for each business unit. As such, we developed tailored Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMS) that align with each sector’s specific ESG challenges and opportunities. This nuanced approach ensures investments are assessed, managed and exited with a clear understanding of the sector-specific impacts, while simultaneously allowing for meaningful and measurable transformation.

Over recent years, we have expanded our commitment to global best practices in responsible investing. In 2016 we became a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), adopted stringent climate change policies aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in 2022. These milestones are more than symbolic gestures, they signify our deepening dedication to setting tangible, ambitious goals aimed at contributing positively towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To translate this global alignment into tangible outcomes, we prioritised robust data-driven methodologies.

The Sustainability Team now captures and analyses extensive ESG-related data spanning from carbon emissions and renewable energy output to workforce diversity, education outcomes and community impacts. This diligent monitoring has elevated our ability to demonstrate impact transparently to investors, communities and stakeholders. It has also enabled us to hold portfolio companies accountable, ensuring they actively pursue measurable ESG targets and meaningful societal outcomes.

A hallmark of our evolution is the strategic innovation we have introduced within asset classes traditionally less focused on ESG. For example, the Hybrid Capital unit has emerged as an influential vehicle for transformative B-BBEE transactions, structuring investments that meaningfully enhance black and female ownership in established businesses across South Africa. By deliberately designing deals to empower marginalised groups and shift ownership dynamics, we not only support substantial economic transformation but also create inspiring case studies that influence broader market behaviour.

Simultaneously, our Impact Investing team has directly addressed critical social infrastructure gaps, focusing particularly on education and housing. By establishing funds such as the Schools and Education Investment Impact Fund (SEIIFSA) and EduFund, we have dramatically expanded access to affordable, quality education, particularly in previously underserved regions. These initiatives have driven large-scale positive social change, benefiting thousands of learners, creating sustainable employment opportunities for educators and laying foundations for long-term economic empowerment and community resilience.

When it comes to infrastructure, our IDEAS Managed Fund, one of South Africa’s largest domestic infrastructure equity funds, has played a leading role in driving sustainable infrastructure investment across the region for over two decades. With ZAR27.8 billion in assets under management and a diversified portfolio spanning 58 investments, IDEAS has focused on utility-scale renewable energy projects, toll roads, digital infrastructure and waste management. Since 2010, IDEAS and its partners have completed and now manage 17 majority-owned renewable energy projects, with an additional four projects currently under construction. Together these represent more than 1.6GW of renewable capacity accounting for around 20% of the national renewables market. In 2024, the IDEAS-ACED-EIMS team achieved financial close on the 432MW Northern Cluster Wind projects, making it one of Southern Africa’s largest wind portfolios. Through IDEAS, infrastructure investment is not only accelerating South Africa’s energy transition but is also creating jobs, injecting investment into local communities and advancing the just energy transition in line with global ESG standards.

Our evolution is underpinned by the belief that investment capital carries with it the opportunity to create lasting value through generational impact and the opportunity to generate long term sustainable investment returns. Through this thoughtful, intentional evolution, we continue to exemplify the idea that financial capital, deployed consciously and sustainably, can unlock South Africa’s vast potential, build resilient economies and empower communities, all while delivering competitive returns to investors. It is by deliberately aligning profit and purpose that we are redefining what it means to be a successful investor and inspiring others, to build an equitable and sustainable future for generations to come.

Describe the impact your evolution has had in response to its identified challenges and targeted outcomes.

Our impact can be summarised by the following numbers:

• 8,594 GWh of energy produced
• 0% female management
• 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions removed
• 95% Matric pass rate at our schools compared to 87% national rate
• 1450 KM of tarred toll roads built
• Funding 43 schools and serving over 24,000
• 43 600+ jobs supported across our portfolios
• 42% women in management across our portfolio

Our evolution has delivered tangible, measurable impact in addressing our most pressing challenges. It is through embedding sustainability across all investment decisions and business units that we have contributed to the growth of inclusive economies, the transition to clean energy and the upliftment of historically disadvantaged communities.

The integration of ESG and impact management has resulted in concrete outcomes. In 2024 alone, our portfolio produced enough renewable energy to power over 2.5 million households, avoided more than 9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and supported critical national infrastructure.

Impact investing strategies expanded access to quality, affordable education, funding 43 schools and serving over 24,000 predominantly black learners, with high matric pass rates and significant investment in teacher development and transformation.

Hybrid Capital investments have directly facilitated large-scale black and female ownership across multiple sectors, such as logistics, food processing and digital infrastructure. These transactions have enabled black industrialists, women entrepreneurs and new leadership to take meaningful stakes in established businesses, accelerating transformation far beyond compliance and ensuring the benefits flow through the entire value chain.

Our commitment to decent work and economic growth is evident in the 43 600+ jobs supported across our portfolios, with a significant number of employees previously historically disadvantaged and increasing numbers of women in management and on boards.

Governance and ethical leadership are reinforced by active stewardship and oversight, supporting transparency, accountability and robust decision-making.

Our agile, data-driven approach enables early identification of climate risks, social needs and market opportunities, allowing the business to respond effectively as circumstances change. This has supported the creation of resilient, future-proof businesses and infrastructure whether by expanding renewable energy, supporting critical water and transport projects, or shaping the next generation of leaders in South African business.

Crucially, our approach demonstrates that responsible investment can deliver both commercial returns and societal value at scale. The evolution from traditional asset management to a truly integrated, impact-focused platform has set new benchmarks for what is possible in African investment, with benefits reaching well beyond the firm’s direct stakeholders to communities, economies and future generations.

Supporting Documentation >