Resonance - Twenty Years Of Impact - Report - Page 75
REGIONAL
2ND RESONANCE
SITR FUND LAUNCHES
2018
420 PEOPLE
sleeping rough in the West Midlands a
42% increase from the previous year22
FUNDS LAUNCHED
• WEST MIDLANDS SITR FUND LAUNCHES
RESONANCE KEY MILESTONES
INVESTMENT
• Greater London Authority invests £15m in Real Lettings Property Fund 2
INNOVATION
• Resonance and Ashley Community Housing develop yield sharing finance
- a first in the UK. Sharia Compliant social investment financing model.
IN THE NEWS...
• The NHS celebrates its 70th anniversary
• 5G becomes available
• Stephen Hawking, world-renowned theoretical physicist, author, and
cosmologist, dies at his home in Cambridge, aged 76
• The first statue of a woman in Parliament Square is unveiled, that of
suffragette Millicent Fawcett
150K JOBS
in the West Midlands are estimated to be
provided by the social enterprise sector23
FUAD MAHAMED
ACH (FORMERLY ASHLEY
COMMUNITY HOMES)
Resonance support with ethical investment
ACH is a leading provider in refugee integration
services, operating in the West of England and the
West Midlands whilst offering advice and assistance
across the UK and beyond. Since 2008, the company
is resettling over 2,500 individuals yearly by providing
secure housing, culturally sensitive support and
vocational training, provided by its training arm – Himilo. Himilo (Hope for the
better) focuses on upskilling individuals and supporting them towards higherlevel employment to develop their independence and contribute to the wider
economic ecosystem. In 2018, ACH wanted to change its business model from
lease based to ownership. After many unsuccessful attempts of establishing social
finance which is sharia complaint in the sector, we went to Resonance. Together
we devised a ground-breaking Yield Sharing product which is both sharia
complaint and appealing to non-Muslims. We have bought our first 3 properties
using this mechanism.
Encouraged by this success, ACH is in an early stage to trial a yield mechanism
for pre start-up, self-employed, microbusinesses and early stage growth
businesses delivered by a Community Anchor. The target market for such loans
are black and ethnic minorities, refugee and marginalised entrepreneurs currently
excluded from the business finance market. It further details opportunities for
additional investors to contribute pro bono or investment to create a national
provision, either by supporting the scaling up of this service or by contributing to
the growth of the fund itself.
Typically refugees and migrants struggle to access finance. For some groups in
the community, the key issue is that interest bearing finance are not permissible.
The type of business funding most readily available is the debt-based loan model
where the entrepreneur in effect rents money for a period for a cost (interest).
Typically, this requires the entrepreneur paying a setup fee, then repaying the
money borrowed and paying the charge for using the money, (interest). This
model also requires the entrepreneur to be able to present a ‘creditworthiness
bundle’ to the lender including electoral registration, payslips, steady income,
credit history, rent history/ mortgage payment history, address history, ability
to personally guarantee repayment, often access to other financial guarantors
alongside personal/ cultural ability to use interest bearing loan finance.
A range of lenders are now emerging, prepared to provide smaller loans to
entrepreneurs who present with an incomplete ‘creditworthiness bundle’ and
using the same yield sharing principles as our own bond. Before our work in
proving such a mechanism could work for all concerned this mechanism felt
completely out of reach. All these ambitions above have been made possible by
the work initiated and pioneered by Resonance; this work is helping to create a
brighter future for refugees.
“AFTER MANY UNSUCCESSFUL
ATTEMPTS OF ESTABLISHING
SOCIAL FINANCE WHICH IS SHARIA
COMPLIANT IN THE SECTOR,
WE WENT TO RESONANCE.”
FUAD MAHAMED, ACH
Source:
22. Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government 2018 - Rough Sleeping Statistics Autumn 2018, England (Revised)
growth and regeneration in the West Midlands
74
23 Directors of Adult Social Services- The impact of adult social care on jobs,
75