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July 11, 2000
Sustainable Jobs Fund Makes Virtuous Ventures
A new venture capital fund stands to create quality jobs while growing responsible businesses.
SocialFunds.com --
A handful of social investment services have successfully combined the exhilarating potential
profits of venture capital with the social and environmental returns of investing in responsible
companies. The Sustainable Jobs Fund (SJF) is an excellent example of how carefully placed venture
capital can have impressive benefits in the area of community development.
 Based in Durham, North Carolina, SJF is a
community development venture capital fund with $17 million in managed assets and a goal of
creating 1,500 jobs. Founded last year, the fund invests in growing recycling, manufacturing, and
environmental businesses in the eastern United States while creating quality jobs for former
low-income individuals.
"SJF is using the tools of venture capital to serve those
low-income citizens who have not reaped the benefits of our booming U.S. economy," said Elyn Sykes
Dortch, Senior Vice President of Banc of America SBIC Corporation and a SJF Advisory Board member.
"Their social, financial, and environmental strategy is a winner."
SJF is prepared to
invest from $100,000 to $1 million into companies that are not Internet related, that are
environmentally friendly, and that use the money to add manufacturing workers, pay them above
minimum wage and provide them with health insurance. Job creation is the core objective, resulting
in the consideration of many companies other venture capitalists wouldn't touch.
So far,
SJF has invested in an electric vehicle company, an engineered steel container producer, a recycled
plastic products manufacturer, and a wood "remanufacturer" that makes lumber from recycled scraps.
EMPower Corporation, SJF's Massachusetts-based electric vehicle company is now being acquired by
Zapworld.com, based in Sebastopol, California and positioned to be a leader in the industry.
Another example, Container Technologies Industries (CTI) is a manufacturer of engineered steel
containers for handling low-level radioactive waste, employing 31 people in a rural Appalachian
Tennessee county with a 31 percent poverty level. With SJF's investment, CTI is adding 15
employees, and expects sales in 2000 upwards of $2.5 million.
In addition to venture
capital, SJF makes business development grants in conjunction with its nonprofit ally, the National
Recycling Coalition of Alexandria, Virginia. So far these grants have been awarded to Greensgrow of
Port Richmond, Pennsylvania, which pioneers replacing abandoned urban sites with hydroponic
agriculture, and Wheel Collision Center of Bath, Pennsylvania, which remanufactures aluminum alloy
automobile wheels.
Although not a venue for individual investors, SJF has received
investment from several prominent lending and philanthropic institutions that are accessible to
individuals. The most recent closing that completed the capitalization of the Fund, exceeding the
original goal of $15 million, came from First Union Corporation, a lender with a similar market
area in the eastern U.S.
"This $2.5 million investment in the Sustainable Jobs Fund is
part of First Union's commitment to neighborhood revitalization," said Robbin Moore, First Union's
Community Development Investment Manager. "Since 1996, First Union has committed almost $54 million
in community development loans and investments to Community Development Financial Institutions in
our operating region."
First Union's investment builds on an earlier grant of $450,000
from the First Union Regional Foundation, which was the basis of SJF's business development grant
program. "The First Union Regional Foundation's early support has been key," said Sandra Walker,
SJF Managing Director.
Other limited partners of the Sustainable Jobs Fund include Bank of
America, Deutsche Bank, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MBNA America Bank, Citibank, the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Dakota Foundation. The SJF also received support
from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund of the U.S. Treasury Department,
in recognition of its community development goals.
With its initial capitalization
complete, SJF is well-positioned to make an important impact on the creation of quality jobs in the
eastern U.S. With a unique blend of socially responsible venture capital investment and community
development, the Fund is also setting a valuable example for other venture capital financial
managers to follow.
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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