Our investment
We first invested in Ecom Express in 2019, to enable the company to increase its workforce, with a focus on increasing the number of employed women in the workforce. In 2020, we made a follow-on investment, to create a further 8,000 jobs, creating a total of 23,000 decent quality jobs and livelihoods by 2025. We expect more than 50 per cent of these jobs to be in poorer states, and more than 50 per cent of new employees are expected to be from these areas and new to the formal economy. We will continue our value-add activities to create jobs for 6,000 female employees by 2025, deliver a road safety programme and support the introduction of an electric vehicle delivery fleet.
| Impact |
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| How? |
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Direct: Through employment creation as the business expands its footprint. |
| Stakeholder | Geography | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Employees |
India, with more than 50 per cent in category ‘A’ and ‘B’ states. As of Q3 2020, 46 per cent are in category ‘A’ states, 10 per cent in category ‘B’ states and the remaining 45 per cent in category ‘C’ and ‘D’ states. |
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| Scale | Depth/Duration |
|---|---|
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The follow-on investment will create 8,000 jobs, in addition to the 15,000 jobs as set out in our original investment case. The new job opportunities will be across delivery centres, fulfilment centres and hubs. This is a very substantial number of direct jobs and would make it a top job creator within CDC’s current portfolio. |
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| Grid Score | Contribution |
|---|---|
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3.22 To help us direct our investments, we use a tool called the Development Impact Grid. The Grid scores every investment we plan out of a score of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in the country and whether investment in that sector will lead to jobs. |
Value-add: CDC will continue to support the company with roll-out of comprehensive road safety training programme, support the introduction of an electric vehicle delivery fleet and advance much needed women’s economic empowerment initiatives. |
| Risk |
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Environmental and social aspects
We are supporting Ecom to develop and implement a comprehensive environmental and social management system (ESMS). We are also supporting the company to strengthen road safety within its operations and encouraging the transition of its delivery fleet to electric vehicles.
Key facts
- Status:
- Active
- Region
:
Since 2012, we’ve only invested in Africa and South Asia. Investments outside these regions are from our pre-2012 portfolio.
- South Asia
- Countries:
- India
- Sector
:
We have seven priority sectors. However, we continue to invest outside these sectors, largely in the most challenging regions, as new investment supporting any sector helps to underpin the private sector, and create jobs and livelihoods for people.
- Infrastructure
- Investment type
:
We provide capital in three broad ways: direct equity, debt, and intermediated equity (principally through investment funds).
- Direct Equity
- Start date
:
For direct investments, this is the date CDC committed capital to the business or project.
For funds, this is the date that CDC committed capital to the fund.
For underlying fund investments, this is the date that the fund invested capital into the business.e
- October 2019
- Amount
:
For direct investments, this is the total amount that CDC has committed to the business or project (it may be a combination of equity and debt).
For funds, this is the total amount that CDC has committed to the fund.
- $56m
- Domicile
:
This is the investee company’s place of incorporation; or a fund’s jurisdiction.
- India
