# Equity Investment
Equity investment is a form of impact investment. An investor can make a monetary investment in return for equity (a percentage ownership of the company) in a business. The investor expects to receive a return on their investment within a few years by selling their stake in the business at a higher valuation and/or through receiving dividends from the business. To receive this type of impact investment, a CSO or its subsidiary/affiliated organization needs to be structured as a for-profit. A CSO would also have to develop systems to track and report certain impact metrics required by impact investors.
This model is especially good for:
A CSO with an existing revenue-generating service/product with potential for scaling OR that has a strong business plan for a marketable service/product.
Key factors to consider
**The right team:** Ability to identify and/or develop a product/service that can be legally sold with minimal or reasonable change to organizational registration or legal structures
**Abundant market demand:** A market opportunity for a scalable business
**Strong social capital:** Connections and networks with individual investors and investment funds
Where to begin
* Is there a service/product a CSO can offer that a market is willing to pay for?
* What is the landscape of investors who would be interested in investing in health care and HIV response?
Example in practice
Access Afya is an enterprise in Kenya that delivers high-quality, localized health care, designed specifically to serve the needs of low-income markets around the world. In 2019, Access Afya received an investment from FHI Ventures (an impact investment subsidiary of FHI 360) because of its ability to deliver more reliable, higher quality care than private dispensaries and clinics or government-run health centers, giving it the potential to expand high-quality health care to underserved populations. The early- stage business model has proven that patients will pay for its services.
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*Source: 20 FHI 360. Bold ideas for a better future: helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas into social impact (FHI Ventures 2018‒19 impact report). Durham (NC): FHI 360; 2019. Available from:* [*http://www.fhiventures.com/wp-*](http://www.fhiventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/FHIVentures_ImpactReport_External-1.pdf) [*content/uploads/2020/01/FHIVentures\_ImpactReport\_External-1.pdf.*](http://www.fhiventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/FHIVentures_ImpactReport_External-1.pdf)
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Additional resources
* *Social Investment Manual* – explains the entire financing process (due diligence, working with investors, etc.) for different funding models across the social investment spectrum.
* *A Short Guide to Impact Investing* – provides a brief summary of impact investing and a series of short examples. [https://casefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Short-Guide-Oct2015-](https://casefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Short-Guide-Oct2015-Digital-FINAL.pdf) [Digital-FINAL.pdf](https://casefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Short-Guide-Oct2015-Digital-FINAL.pdf)
* *A Guide on Monitoring and Evaluation for Impact Investing* – an internet post that introduces key characteristics for impact investing and outlines steps to consider when developing a monitoring and evaluation framework. [https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/themes/monitoring-and-](https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/themes/monitoring-and-evaluation-impact-investing) [evaluation-impact-investing](https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/themes/monitoring-and-evaluation-impact-investing)
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