Adam Strauss, manager of the Appleseed Fund, says that sometimes an investment is driven by the social benefits, although it still has to make sense financially.
One such company where the fund has a significant stake in is the Female Health Company, which makes female condoms, which are a big part of the public health effort in Africa to reduce the transmission of AIDS. “Their business is basically to save people’s lives by offering women an option which they control,” says Strauss. “We just met with management last week and talked to them about one country where they’re operating significantly–Zimbabwe.”