Shared Interest News

Helping Close the Capital Gap in Africa: Two Big Investments in African Microfinance 

Shared Interest, a non-profit investment fund that guarantees bank loans for South Africa’s poorest communities, in SocialFunds.com, the largest personal finance site devoted to socially responsible investing. Read a recent SocialFunds.com article on how Shared Interest’s recent $1million investment from the United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits will help thousands of South Africans gain access to capital for small and micro-enterprises, affordable housing and rural community businesses and cooperatives. Click here: http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/2332.html 

CONTACT: Shanta Bryant Gyan 646-290-8211; shanta@sbgcommunications.com * www.sharedinterest.org

Largest Faith-based Pension Fund Invests $1 Million for Small and Micro-enterprise Development in South African Low-Income Communities
Investment seeks to alleviate poverty and build wealth in South Africa’s economically marginalized communities

NEW YORK, July 5, 2007 – Shared Interest, a leading New York-based social investment fund, has received a $1 million investment from The United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits to support small and micro-enterprise development in South Africa’s most impoverished communities, signifying the pension fund’s commitment to invest in economically marginalized communities like those served by their African clergy.

The five-year investment, which is Shared Interest’s largest single investment, is one of the first U.S. pension fund investments in African communities. continued…