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Drawing Inspiration from our Mandate
Executing developmental projects are increasingly becoming complex because of the unintended negative externalities associated with them and the far-reaching impacts they have on the environment, people, and their health. Every now and then, the media reports about communities where developments are happening and their deteriorating state because of ongoing air, land, and water pollution, biodiversity loss, depletion of natural resources, and indiscriminate disposal of waste and hazardous materials. Meanwhile, these are also communities that experience prevailing socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, health issues, unemployment, inequality, insecurity, and injustice—further worsening the situation. This situation has demanded responsiveness and accountability from every business institution to act for the good of all—making profits whilst transforming their societies.
Correspondingly, a people and planet-centred approach to business is now mainstream as the concept of sustainability and its related themes continue to gain traction. Today businesses are no longer relevant only by their products or services but by their social impacts—their response and contribution solving to salient societal issues. Consequently, to achieve long-term success, businesses need to have a strong relationship with their stakeholders by identifying the needs and expectations of each stakeholder and integrating these needs into their corporate strategy. This stakeholder-focused business approach is the principle underlying the mega trend topic of Environmental Social and Governance (ESG). ESG is a reference to different environmental, social and governance factors that are relevant to an organization, and how the organization creates opportunities to engage these factors; or manage risks while bearing in mind the relationship it has with its stakeholders.
At Family Homes Funds Limited, we believe in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth that transcends just financing housing development. We see our purpose as strategically interconnected with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Goals. By way of our business mandate, our mission is addressing two pressing challenges in Nigeria—housing deficits and unemployment—which is a disheartening situation premised on prevailing statistics. It is therefore important that whilst committed to our mission we are mindful and deliberate in creating meaningful impacts for the people that matter to us—our employees and target groups, and other stakeholders who are directly or indirectly affected by the things we do. Similarly, “life is full of risks”, we are mindful of this too. Hence, shielding our portfolio from significant risks that pose risks to us and the people and communities where we have financial footprints is how ESG is our guiding light, our target group, and the wider community.
What ESG means for FHFL
ESG for FHFL implies staying true to our very essence which bears light in our mission statement—providing affordable homes and creating jobs… for marginalized populations of Nigerians—and doing this through mindful of other groups in our process chain—our employees, partners, investors, clients, regulators, and the communities that host our financed projects. Our approach to ESG is strongly rooted in the United Nations 17 Sustainable Develop Goals (SDGs)—the universal call-to-action for developments that recognizes the socioeconomic needs of people and protection of the environment for the shared prosperity of all. The SDGs are holistic in scope and coherently capture salient societal issues such as poverty, hunger, social inequality, and sustainable and efficient use of natural resources. FHFL is committed to achieving these goals through its mandate.