This year’s grant recipients include The Better Packaging Co, Stay Native, and Again Again.

The Ākina team are pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of the Impact Investment Readiness Grants, a grant programme designed for social enterprises to unlock support and get ready for investment.

This year there are six national grant recipients including science educators Nanogirl Labs, Māori tourism enterprise Stay Native, and compostable packaging creators The Better Packaging Co. Joining them this year, thanks to the support of WEL Energy Trust is an additional three recipients from the Waikato; Home Kitchen, Learning Matters, and Raglan Coconut Yoghurt.

Director of Ākina Invest, Jackson Rowland says that the number of applications received made this year’s selection process more difficult than the previous two grant rounds.

“This year the demand was huge. We received 167 applications, which shows there are so many impactful enterprises out there keen to get that extra support that will help them scale.” he says.

The purpose of the grants is to build the capability of social enterprises so that they can secure investment. Grant money, which is up to $20,000 per grant, can be spent on financial, legal or any business support designed to get the enterprise ready for investment.

“We’ve selected a range of really inspiring businesses, with impact areas covering science and technology, waste reduction, eco-friendly paint, and employment opportunities for refugees.” says Jackson.

Founder of Nisa, Elisha Watson runs a Wellington studio employing refugee women who produce underwear. "This is such a game changer for us – it means we can afford to get the support we need to put forward a really attractive offer for investors.” says Elisha “This in turn will help our social enterprise get to the next level and increase our impact."

This is the third year Ākina has run the grant programme. The first two rounds gave out a total of $150,000 in grant funding and returned over $4m in investment, with more investment anticipated.

Thanks to grant partners Kiwibank, the Tindall Foundation and WEL Energy Trust, the total pool of available grant funding available this year was $150,000. Ākina administers the grant programme, with funding supplied by grant partners and additional support through the Government-funded Social Enterprise Sector Development Programme.

Previous grant recipients include LearnCoach, BBM and For the Better Good. After receiving a grant, each of these social enterprises went on to raise significant investment.

Impact investing is investing with the intention of generating a measurable and beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return. The Impact Investment movement is growing worldwide, with recent estimates putting the total investment available for impactful businesses at over $500bn globally.

This article was updated to reflect the inclusion of the Waikato grant recipients, which were announced on November 25, 2019.