Social businesses can play a significant role in solving some of the world’s greatest social challenges. They nevertheless often find it difficult to access the long-term funding and support they need to support their growth. This is where Danone Communities comes in. We invest at this crucial moment when the social business has already a proven concept but has not yet achieved financial sustainability. We bring patient capital and expertise, to help them accelerate their scale up and maximize their social impact. 

The social businesses that we invest in focus on improving access to safe drinking water and giving access to healthy food. 

What we invest in

Social Business

Addressing issues of Access to healthier diet or Safe Water Access

Targeting low income consumers

Ready to scale up

Where we invest

We invest in talented social entrepreneurs who have the ambition to impact at scale and a credible business plan. One of the specificities of the Fund is that we focus on social challenges (access to safe water and access to a healthier diet) and not on geographies. Today we support 15 businesses in 24 countries, having an impact on more than 11 million people. 

How we invest

As a strategic partner through technical and managerial expertise

Always as a minority shareholder

Ticket starts at 300k€

We provide social businesses with the patient capital they need to enable their social business to climb the credibility hurdle and strengthen their operations to achieve lasting social impact. Danone Communities provides funding through equity as a minority shareholder. We are seating on the companies’ Boards to influence strategic decisions. We monitor the performance of our portfolio, both financially and in terms of social impact.

Where do we get our money

The investment in Social Businesses is done through Danone Communities Mutual Fund. As of June 20, 2021, Danone employees own 42% of the Fund. The other investors are individuals, institutional investors and Danone.