‘To the pure all things are pure’. I’m not referring to Benny but quoting Saint Paul.
The first time I encountered this sentence was not at mass but in the film Les Nouits Fauves, autobiography of the gay artist Cyril Collard. He tried every sexual experience in his life and died of HIV in ’93.
Have you ever thought that a radical gay activist could be inspired by the Catholic champion Saint Paul?
A few days ago I had a chat with a banker with whom I work on a pioneering social investment project: Gum Arabic Fund (GAF). He made me think about Saint Paul.
GAF aims to establish a fair trade certification for gum arabic. Taking for granted that you know what fair trade is, gum arabic is a resin produced by acacia tree, a bush which grows on the borders of the Sahara desert in some of the most troubled countries in the world such as Sudan and Chad.
Gum arabic is harvested manually but doesn’t have any use locally. It’s a vital chemical component for several industries – chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage – and multinational corporations such CocaCola and Nestle. It’s the best natural emulsifier in the world i.e. it makes chemically substances react and combine that naturally would not – such as when you try and mix oil with vinegar.
We wouldn’t be able to drink Coca Cola without gum arabic!
The GAF has the ambition to leverage the power of international markets to stabilise the price of gum arabic (because we care for consumers!) and consequently reconnecting local development to the global economy, providing an economic alternative to conflict for farmers, and developing a natural barrier to desertification through the reforestation of acacia trees.
Euclid Network is a partner in the initiative, providing NGOs’ expertise and contacts to monitor and improve the social impact. We are naturally vital to operate in such sensitive areas. We are the good guys!
The project ticks all the boxes but has struggled to take off. The UN has provided a grant to develop the initiative together with Traidcraft – the best British fair trade NGO. ABP, the Dutch pension fund of public sector employees, has committed up to 65m euro in match funding. However, the fund hasn’t been able to raise more investment since the beginning of the financial crisis.
When I spoke to Giulio Oikocredit – a Dutch social investor – they had just refused to invest in the fund because it’s not social enough i.e. bankers and civil society mustn’t be mixed up like oil and vinegar.
Previously mainstream investors refused to enter the enterprise because it’s not profitable enough.
Today it still seems a challenge to combine financial and social goals. On Monday Triodos UK announced the closure of its social fund, giving money back to investors. They hadn’t been able to find enough viable social ventures.
Despite the trend of social enterprise struggling to take off, it is accumulating sceptics from both inside and outside the sector.
The grey area in between profit and nonprofit is a ghetto where few dare to enter.
It is the same ghetto where homosexuals lived and as many other minority groups have got out of it because few dared crossing the boundaries. They knew the sin was just in the eyes on the others.
I expect the same for social investment and business champions. I am one of them and never feared crossing the boundaries.
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