Why We Invested: Iluméxico
R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund has joined Beneficial Returns, an impact investment fund manager, in an impact investment to improve the lives of rural Mexicans and protect the environment. R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund is participating in a loan that Beneficial Returns has extended to Iluméxico, a social enterprise delivering solar energy solutions to remote Mexican communities.
More than 500,000 homes in Mexico still do not have access to electricity. These families rely on candles, diesel, and other sources of light which are costly, hazardous to health, and detrimental to the environment. Typically, these families live in remote communities that are off the power grid.
In communities that power lines fail to reach, Iluméxico designs, builds and installs affordable, clean, efficient solar systems to generate electricity for rural homes and small businesses. The loan provided by Beneficial Returns to Iluméxico funds solar systems powering refrigeration equipment for local fishermen in a small village in Baja California Sur ensuring that more of their catch will make it to market fresh.
To date, Iluméxico has installed systems with more than 4 MW capacity, which translates to over 2,000 communities and more than 23,000 households with access to an affordable, sustainable, and eco-friendly energy source.
Beneficial Returns manages impact investment funds designed to support leading social enterprises operating in emerging markets. To date, Beneficial Returns has invested over USD $3.6 million of impact capital in social enterprises that use market-based solutions to reduce poverty and protect the natural environment. R.I.S.E. is proud to extend their reach even futher.
Ted Levinson, Founder and CEO of Beneficial Returns, expressed the need for impact capital in renewable energy. “The participation of investors like the R.I.S.E. Artisan Fund is critical to supporting social enterprises in Mexico and other emerging markets,” he said. “Alleviating poverty while mitigating climate change is an urgent priority, and Iluméxico is on the front lines of that fight.”
Thousands of fishing villages in coastal México live off-grid.
Solar Energy from Iluméxico.
