The loan fund launched earlier this year to help social enterprises gain access to debt and credit.
It extended a small loan to Iluméxico, which launched in 2010 to offer affordable home solar systems to Mexico’s three million citizens living off the electricity grid.
The secured, five-year loan will help Iluméxico provide credit to low-income women to buy the refrigerators for their shops. The company has installed 10,000 solar panels and has expanded its range of products to include “productive use” technologies like solar-powered refrigerators for small businesses.
Beneficial Returns has agreed to waive the last month of Iluméxico’s loan payment if it adds another 20,000 solar panel installations over the next five years — a goal Iluméxico itself set. “If you really care about impact, put your money where your mouth is and reward the folks that are actually delivering the results,” Beneficial Returns’ Ted Levinson told ImpactAlpha.
“In 59 months we’ll know how things pan out, but I don’t think other investors need to wait that long to incorporate these kind of rewards into their business models.”
