Our Mission
We support for profit and non-profit social enterprises from Atlanta area by offering affordable loans to cover their short-term financing needs
Goizueta Impact Investors (GII) was originally founded as a student-run microfinance fund at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Beginning around 2013, GII expanded the scope of its investment strategy to include direct debt investments in organizations that address an intractable social need and serve a common good, either through products and services or through employing underprivileged populations. The primary purpose of the loans is to set borrowers on a path towards growth as well as self-sufficiency or access to more traditional sources of credit, while generating a net profit for the borrowers and GII.
Apart from this, GII also aims to:
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Educate the Goizueta community about the opportunity to use finance as a tool for business development and positive social outcomes
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Provide an opportunity for Goizueta students to learn about the impact investing space while participating in established investment processes
Learn more about our loan offerings!
Our Impact
7 +
Loans
$240K +
Deployed
4 +
Portfolio Sectors
Our Investments
Education
Provides education in under served areas using mobile trucks
Purpose
Expand program into more schools
Loan Details
October, 2015
$30,000 term loan
Ed-Tech
Focused on connecting companies and students
Purpose
Develop online platform
Loan Details
June, 2017
$10,000 term loan
Recidivism
Provides personal Development program for incarcerated people
Purpose
Support marketing & sales
Loan Details
September, 2017
$22,090 term loan
Healthcare
Healthcare solution provider in emerging markets
Purpose
Cover working capital needs
Loan Details
June, 2019
$40,000 term loan
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How is GII different from other impact investing funds?GII is a student run impact investing fund focused on debt investments in Atlanta-based organizations. Our competitive advantage is that we can provide both financial and advisory support (if needed) to organizations. Moreover, we also give our entrepreneurs easy access to the Emory business community. As one of the top business schools in the country, the Emory community consists of successful professionals from diverse sectors.
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How does GII decide on the rate of interest to offer on loans?GII is very focused on driving social impact through its investments. Hence, we always try to offer organizations loans at relatively nominal rates compared to banks. Depending on the riskiness of the investment, the rates we offer are generally between 5-8%. The riskiness of the investment is judged by our experienced credit committee based on the insights provided by the due diligence team
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Are their any geographical restrictions on where GII will invest?We give higher preference to organizations based around Atlanta. This is because GII plans to provide both financial as well as advisory support (if needed) to its entrepreneurs. We believe it is more feasible to leverage Emory’s vast resources for the success of our entrepreneurs if they are based around Atlanta. However, we will review the applications from other parts of the country and hence, we encourage you to apply if you think you are a good fit for our fund.
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What documents will my organization be required to share with GII?Through the due diligence process, GII analyzes the financial health of the enterprise and its ability to pay back the loan. Additionally, we also try to identify the extent of social impact that can be created by the borrower organization through the loan. To do this, we request documents including (but not limited to): Tax Form 990 Determination Letter from IRS – to show tax exempt status (if relevant) Audited financials (for up to 3 previous years if possible) Balance Sheet Cash Flow Statement Annual (2-year, 5-year) budget Impact monitoring reports Additional grant or loan agreements, if relevant List of references (at least 3)
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How does GII choose an organization to invest in?The investment decision is made based on the organization’s financial situation and the extent of social impact created by it. Currently, we do not have a preference for any particular social mission, but we do take into consideration the sector (refer to the eligibility criteria for more info). After the organization submits their application, GII’s due diligence team performs an in-depth analysis of the company. The due diligence team then shares these insights with GII’s credit committee, which consists of experts from impact investing and social impact domains, who make the final recommendation.
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How much of my time would be required through the process?We are very focused on making the loan application process as efficient as possible for our partner organizations. The process starts with the organization filling out an application, which can take anywhere between 0.5 - 2 hours to complete. If your application is moved to the next round, we kick-off the due diligence process with an hour-long interview. Following this interview, we may reach out to the organization with any follow-up questions regarding the documents shared with us. In total, our application and due diligence process can take up to 3-6 hours of the entrepreneur’s time over the course of 3-4 months.