Maitland, a global corporate services and administration firm, has been appointed as Corporate Trustee and trust administrator to the R488m Green Outcomes Fund.

Megan van Vlaanderen, CFO of GreenCape, said that good governance was of the utmost importance both in the setting up of the fund and in its ongoing management.

“We chose Maitland to act as corporate trustee based on its deep local and international experience and knowledge in this area, and its demonstrable commitment to best-practice governance,” she said.

The Green Outcomes Fund is a partnership between the National Treasury’s Jobs Fund and non-profit organisation, GreenCape, with the UCT GSB Bertha Centre for Social Innovation as a knowledge partner.

Launched in April 2020, the Fund aims to grow “green” small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and the green impact investing market in South Africa.

The Fund provides outcomes-based matched funding to local investment funds to support investments into local SMMEs that make a demonstrable contribution to South Africa’s green economy, as well as job and enterprise creation in priority impact areas.

Van Vlaanderen said that the world urgently needs to move towards models where economic growth is decoupled from the use of natural resources , whilst supporting climate change mitigation pathways.

In South Africa, this means investment in businesses that can generate verifiable green outcomes, whilst creating jobs, including in energy, water, waste, infrastructure and land management.

The governance of a Trust and all its assets, liabilities, rights and duties is in the hands of its Trustees.

Consequently, Maitland’s appointment as the Corporate Trustee of the Green Outcomes Fund comes with a substantial amount of responsibility and requires a high standard of care and fiduciary duty towards the Trust and its beneficiaries.

Willem Badenhorst, Managing Director of Maitland Corporate Services, said: “The Green Outcomes Fund strives to maintain best-practice governance and has adopted a robust governance operating model through the establishment of Advisory and Investment Committees. External experts serve on these committees, ensuring the Fund’s adherence to its mandate and enabling independent decision-making and oversight on funding allocation to recipient funds.”

“The timing of the creation of this fund is very auspicious. Investment in activities which contribute to sustainable job creation, in particular at the SMME level, is now more important than ever and the importance of good governance in sustainable investing cannot be over-estimated,” he said.