ACUMEN
Management 3040: Understanding the International Environment of Firms
Paper 3: Acumen Funds: Measurement on Impact investing
Would you recommend investing in Ecotact, Meridian, both or none? Use Exhibit 9 to ground your analysis.
Acumen Fund Capabilities Assessment Matrix allows us to make a detailed analysis of various variables concerning Acumen investing in Ecotact and Meridian. Acumen mission and guidelines when choosing a company in which to invest rely on the potential for social impact, potential for financial sustainability, and potential to achieve scale. If we consider the first category of the matrix, we could say that Ecotact is more committed to BoP (Bottom Of the Pyramide) than Meridian, whereas the commitment for Market solutions is more important in Meridian. In fact, helping the poor is not stated as one of the primary missions of Meridian, whereas it is for Ecotact, which from the beginning aimed to be a social company trying to help people with low resources access hygienic conditions in public places. As for the ambition to scale, both companies have high growing expectations, as Eecotact plans to expand through all the country having 200 places, and Meridien wants to open two to three centers per year and even two hospitals in a few years. Having a look at financial sustainability, it is interesting to note that financial security is demonstrated in Meridian, whereas it is not ensured in Ecotact option. This is explained by the fact that Ecotact cannot prove that in the future there will be an existing demand for what it has to offer. Moreover, Acumen would be the only private investor, and also public institutions would invest in it. As Acumen does not have previous experience in public-private partnership, this could be a danger when regarding financial return. On the contrary, Meridian health services present a proven potential for high return, so the financial security is higher, and both Acumen and another European
Paper 3: Acumen Funds: Measurement on Impact investing
Would you recommend investing in Ecotact, Meridian, both or none? Use Exhibit 9 to ground your analysis.
Acumen Fund Capabilities Assessment Matrix allows us to make a detailed analysis of various variables concerning Acumen investing in Ecotact and Meridian. Acumen mission and guidelines when choosing a company in which to invest rely on the potential for social impact, potential for financial sustainability, and potential to achieve scale. If we consider the first category of the matrix, we could say that Ecotact is more committed to BoP (Bottom Of the Pyramide) than Meridian, whereas the commitment for Market solutions is more important in Meridian. In fact, helping the poor is not stated as one of the primary missions of Meridian, whereas it is for Ecotact, which from the beginning aimed to be a social company trying to help people with low resources access hygienic conditions in public places. As for the ambition to scale, both companies have high growing expectations, as Eecotact plans to expand through all the country having 200 places, and Meridien wants to open two to three centers per year and even two hospitals in a few years. Having a look at financial sustainability, it is interesting to note that financial security is demonstrated in Meridian, whereas it is not ensured in Ecotact option. This is explained by the fact that Ecotact cannot prove that in the future there will be an existing demand for what it has to offer. Moreover, Acumen would be the only private investor, and also public institutions would invest in it. As Acumen does not have previous experience in public-private partnership, this could be a danger when regarding financial return. On the contrary, Meridian health services present a proven potential for high return, so the financial security is higher, and both Acumen and another European