Greetings Agents of Impact!
In today’s Brief:
- Taking employee ownership trusts to bigger businesses
- Backing Africa’s female fund managers
- Electric vehicles in Mexico
- The state of Black venture capital
Featured: Ownership Economy
In-home caregivers get a stake in Consumer Direct Care Network as bigger companies discover employee ownership trusts. Employee ownership trusts are not just for small businesses, anymore. Consumer Direct Care Network, with 135,000 home caregivers across 14 states, has transferred roughly 30% of its shares into a trust for employees, an emerging form of employee ownership that has been touted as a more flexible and inexpensive exit alternative to employee stock ownership plants, or ESOPs. Employee ownership trust, or EOTs, hold the shares on behalf of employees and manage their ownership stakes, as well as their share of profits. Most US employee ownership trusts to date have been smaller businesses, with dozens or hundreds of employees (see, for example, “A Utah auto shop demonstrates a pathway to worker ownership via a perpetual purpose trust”). In Canada this week, Taproot Community Support Services, which provides personalized support services to struggling children, youth and adults, became Canada’s largest employee-owned company through an EOT. Around 750 social workers are now majority-owners of the company. The conversion of Consumer Direct Care Network is one of the largest conversions to an employee ownership trust in the US to date. “Our goal is to really see employee ownership scale,” said Zoe Schlag of Common Trust, which helped structure the transaction with Denver-based law firm Holland & Hart.
- Mission lock. Common Trust has designed four EOTs since 2022, creating ownership for hundreds of workers. Schlag said larger businesses have become interested in EOTs because they can ensure an equitable distribution of profits among current and future employees, based on factors like tenure and seniority. For employees, the structure gives them access to a portion of future profits without putting up capital or putting themselves at risk. Some sellers, Schlag told ImpactAlpha, “really like the elements of being able to protect their mission as part of the transition.” Home healthcare has attracted the interest of private equity investors, which typically cut costs and take on debt to fund expansion – and often sell within a few years. The trust structure makes it possible to embed the company’s mission by hardwiring it into its governance clause, shielding the company from ownership changes that could undermine its values. “We’ve seen folks who are turning to the EOT to protect organic farming, or certain hiring practices, or sustainability in their supply chain,” says Schlag. “The trust agreement is where those purposes are articulated.”
- Employer advantage. The care economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the US job market, as aging baby boomers look to “age in place,” living independently in their homes and communities. Caregivers are in short supply and generally overworked, giving employers able to offer better benefits and other perks an advantage in recruitment and retention. Missoula, Mont.-based Consumer Direct Care Network, launched in 1990, has provided caregivers to hundreds of thousands of families in 14 US states, via agreements with state Medicaid programs, VA providers, local governments and other agencies. Consumer Direct Care’s Ben Bledsoe says the company partnered with Common Trust to honor the essential contributions of its caregivers, as well as protect the company’s mission to deliver quality care in US communities. “The people who dedicate their lives to providing care deserve better than boardroom decisions that put profit over people,” he said. “That’s why we are making a lasting investment in care — and in those who deliver it every single day.”
- Keep reading, “In-home caregivers get a stake in Consumer Direct Care Network as bigger companies discover employee ownership trusts,” by Roodgally Senatus on ImpactAlpha. Catch up on all of ImpactAlpha’s coverage of the Ownership Economy, in partnership with Sorenson Impact Foundation.
Dealflow: Gender Smart
Standard Bank commits $10 million for Africa’s female fund managers. The South African bank committed the capital to the Africa Women Impact Fund, a three-year old initiative with the UN Economic Commission of Africa to grow the share of financial assets on the continent managed by women. Women account for about 12% of emerging market fund managers. Research suggests that women who manage investment funds invest in more female business owners. Standard Bank is betting that growing the number and size of women-led funds will help narrow the gender gap in business funding. “By strengthening the role of women as fund managers and decision makers, we are helping expand access to finance, unlock opportunities and drive growth,” said Standard Bank’s Luvuyo Masinda.
- Investing in women. This week, woman-led fund manager Aruwa Capital reupped its investment in Koolboks, a solar refrigeration company, founded by Deborah Gael and her business partner Ayoola Dominic, which primarily serves female traders in Africa. Also this week: Woman-led Fibers Fund made its third investment, originating a loan to Seattle-based Botanical Colors, a woman-owned supplier of natural dyes for industrial and artisan textile makers. The investment follows grants that Fibers Fund provided to help the company track inventory and project revenues. Mexico-based Amplifica Capital, another woman-led fund, invested in Pitz, a woman-led startup that is helping upgrade Mexico’s small auto repair shops with an AI assistant to speed customer repair quotes, parts sourcing and other business functions.
- Mobilizing capital. Standard Bank wants to rally $1 billion for the Africa Women Impact Fund by 2032. Other partners include UN Women, the African Union and with African Women Leadership Network and MiDA Advisors. Standard Bank’s investment builds on $60 million in anchor funding from Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and two South African pension funds, the Motor Industry Retirement Fund and Copartes Pension Fund.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Vision Ridge Partners led a $250 million investment in Mexico-based Vemo, which is supporting EV adoption in the country with cars, charging infrastructure and fleet management software. The company has a lease-to-own sales model and works in partnership with ride hailing services Uber and DiDi. (Vemo)
- Social Finance made a $3 million investment in Upright Education, a digital skills training company that works in partnership with employers, universities and colleges on high-demand tech skills training. (Social Finance)
- AgDevCo reupped its investment in EFAfrica Group, a Mauritius-based company that provides equipment leasing services to East Africa’s small farmers and agribusinesses for expensive machinery that few can afford to purchase outright. AgDevCo provided a fresh $7.2 million in long-term debt. (AgDevCo)
Signals: Returns on Inclusion
The state of Black venture capital: More money, fewer deals. Black-led venture capital firms raised more funds than ever before in 2024, with half raising more than $20 million and half less, according to BLCK VC’s State of Black Venture Report 2025. That is far below the broader industry’s $50–$100 million median for fund raises. The report, based on a national survey and interviews of 117 Black investors, captures a moment when political backlash against diversity efforts has weakened institutional resolve, and broader venture activity has slowed to its lowest levels in six years, reports ImpactAlpha contributing editor Tony Lawson. More managers may be at the table, but they are writing fewer checks. In 2023, most Black-led funds were active at the seed and pre-seed stages. By 2025, fewer firms reported investing at all, and none made initial investments beyond Series A. One high-flyer, Arlan Hamilton’s Backstage Capital, which has raised about $30 million since 2015 to back underestimated entrepreneurs, has gone quiet. “Black investors continue to lead, despite constraint, despite backlash,” writes Kareema Thomas of Black VC in the report’s introduction. “We welcome those who understand what is at stake to step forward with us.”
- Assets under management. Black-led funds raised an average of $59 million. Slauson & Co. closed a $100 million second fund in 2024 to back overlooked founders across fintech, future of work, and consumer sectors. Cherryrock Capital, led by Stacy Brown-Philpot and Saydeah Howard, earlier this year raised a $172 million first fund to back growth-stage startups led by underinvested founders. Zeal Capital Partners followed, clinching an $82 million Fund II in May, more than tripling its assets under management in five years. “In this market, we’re prioritizing quality over quantity, deploying with conviction to build a portfolio that endures,” Zeal’s Nasir Qadree told ImpactAlpha.
- LP mandates. Amid the backlash, some allocators have shifted their emerging manager away from diversity and toward “GP stakes” strategies that seek to invest in up-and-coming fund managers.Among the limited partners surveyed, 44% reported mandates to invest in managers of color, 22% had mandates specific to women-led funds, and one-third had no mandate at all. Capital most often comes from US-based pensions, endowments, family offices, and corporate funds, but commitments remain inconsistent, and only a third of institutions enforce accountability or track outcomes. As one emerging manager put it: “It’s not just about getting the first check. It’s about whether they’ll come back when we’re raising Fund II.”
- More.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Generate Capital appoints David Crane, former under secretary for infrastructure at the US Department of Energy, as CEO and board chairman. He replaces co-founder Scott Jacobs… Greenbacker Renewable Energy names Daniel de Boer, formerly head of renewables at Allianz Capital Partners of America, as CEO. Carl Weatherley-White is promoted to CFO… Swedfund International adds Siongo Kisoso, previously with BK Capital, as East Africa regional director.
California Community Foundation welcomes Celina Santiago, previously with YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, as chief philanthropy officer and Erin Watkins, previously with Claremont Investment Management, as chief financial officer… LISC has an opening for a senior asset manager in New York, a community investment director in Oakland, a program lending officer in Jacksonville and South Carolina… HASI is hiring a credit manager in New York.
Conservation International seeks a partnership engagement director… IGT Global Solutions is looking for a global sustainability director in Las Vegas… The Nature Conservancy is recruiting a compliance and investor relations manager… Liberty Mutual Investments is on the hunt for an impact investing senior analyst in New York… JPMorgan Chase is searching for a local impact marketing senior associate in New York… New Majority Capital Foundation seeks a community manager and a program manager.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– Sept. 4, 2025
