In 2024, SGGM portfolio companies supported nearly 190,000 jobs across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, 40% held by women. Since inception, nearly 98,000 new jobs were created, including 47,300 for women.
Sector Highlights:
- Financial services: 56,000+ jobs; financing extended to 100,000+ SMEs
- Healthcare: 17,700 jobs; 44 million patients served
- Public contributions: USD 519 million in taxes supporting education, healthcare, and infrastructure
- Community reach: Portfolio companies served 296 million end clients
Jobs supported by region
Average portfolio salaries stand at USD 12,000, exceeding local averages. 83% of companies offer health insurance, 73% provide maternity leave, and over 70% invest in employee training, demonstrating alignment with SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
The evidence confirms that emerging market impact investing and responsible investment complement each other, enhancing portfolio resilience while generating sustainable, long-term value.
Jobs supported by sector
Voices from the Field: Humanizing Impact
Impact is not just measured in numbers. It is lived through the communities and leaders shaping change. Across the SGGM portfolio, companies show how strategic capital transforms lives and markets:
- Brazil: Mercado Eletrônico recognized for embedding diversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion through its “DiverseME” initiative.
- Tunisia: Société d’Articles Hygiéniques (SAH) expanded its workforce by 150% since 2017 while doubling affordable hygiene access.
- Nigeria: Emzor Pharmaceuticals supplies essential medicines across West Africa while maintaining zero staff turnover in 2024.
These stories illustrate that impact investing, whether through private equity, private debt investing, or emerging market ventures can achieve scale, inclusion, and measurable social outcomes.
Gender Lens Investing: Beyond Representation
Sarona’s gender-lens investing demonstrates measurable progress:
- 71% of portfolio companies meet 2X Challenge criteria
- Women make up 40% of employees, 29% of managers, and 17% of board members
- 77% of companies have anti-gender-based-violence policies, with childcare and parental benefits expanding
Gender-focused investment strategies correlate with stronger governance, innovation, and community impact, reinforcing the principles of responsible investment.
Climate Action: Sustainability in Strategy
Environmental stewardship is increasingly central to SGGM’s investment approach.
- 50% of portfolio companies adopt climate-action goals
- 53% conduct environmental assessments
- 61% maintain formal sustainability policies
Portfolio-wide emissions declined 30% from 17.6M tCO₂e in 2023 to 12M tCO₂e in 2024, driven by driven by strategic exits and operational efficiency.
Top sectors by GHG Emissions in Portfolio, attributed to Sarona Investment
Azalaï Hotels illustrates the impact. Its solar installation in Bamako supplies more than 20% of the hotel’s electricity needs, setting a benchmark for sustainable hospitality in West Africa. Integrating climate risk into private equity and private debt investing can mitigate risk while enhancing long-term returns, and advancing SDG 13, Climate Action.
The Ripple Effect: Systemic Value Creation
Sarona’s impact extends beyond direct employment. Using the Joint Impact Model, each direct job supports nearly three additional jobs across supply chains, resulting in 915,000 total jobs sustained in 2024.
This multiplier effect shows how responsible investment catalyzes systemic economic benefits, enabling small enterprises to grow, suppliers to thrive, and communities to prosper.
Looking Ahead: Strategic Priorities for 2025
Sarona’s 2024 Impact Report highlights three priorities:
- Advancing gender equality and inclusive leadership will address barriers to women’s participation at senior and board levels through data-driven strategies and capacity-building
- Scaling climate action and sustainability will embed climate-risk management across the investment cycle and strengthen TCFD alignment.
- Expanding community benefits and shared prosperity will focus on sectors that improve lives through healthcare, education, and financial inclusion.
With SGGM3 in development, Sarona aims to mobilize private capital for sustainable development and resilient growth in emerging markets, following the PRI framework.
A Call to Engage: Capital with Purpose
The SGGM 2024 Impact Report is a blueprint proving that responsible investing can empower communities, generate long-term value, and influence global markets.
See the full report to explore insights, data, and case studies, and join the dialogue on how private investment can build shared prosperity.
