Peter Stolze has stepped back as a director of Energise Africa following a strategic investment in the crowdfunding platform by investment bank ABN AMRO.
Earlier this month, the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund announced that it was taking a stake in Lendahand – the legal entity of Energise Africa.
This has resulted in a change of focus for Stoltze, who will no longer sit on the Lendahand board.
Daniel van Maanen has joined as an Energise Africa director from Lendahand where he is chief finance officer and also takes responsibility for the investments team.
Energise Africa is an ethical crowdfunding platform owned by European impact investing platforms Ethex and Lendahand.
It offers investors annual returns of up to six per cent for funding clean energy projects in Africa, which can be held in an Innovative Finance ISA wrapper.
Following the ABN AMRO investment, Lendahand said that it expects the loans supplied to emerging markets through its platform to reach €1bn (£850m) by 2026.
“Lendahand is leading the way in raising and utilising crowdfunding to finance sustainable and development goals in emerging markets,” said Eric Buckens, investment director at ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund.
“Not only does the company have a strong track record in terms of identifying impactful projects, it also gives crowdfunders the possibility to stay closely involved in their investments.
“This new venture capital investment will allow the company to take the next step.”