New Lendahand CEO charts future plans
Incoming Lendahand chief executive Arno Hoogenhuizen said the group wants to start offering direct projects again but with fewer risks than before.
This could be through collaborations with partners like Triodos or guarantees for investors, he said in a blog post introducing himself to investors and revealing plans for the ethical investment platform.
He pointed out that direct project investments, which often had a positive climate impact and high interest rates, were stopped last year due to poor performance, with the company concluding that the “risk was simply too great”.
While they work on coming up with a solution, investors will be able to invest in projects from microfinance institutions, which historically have had a write-off rate of less than 0.5 per cent on average.
Read more: Triodos and Lendahand join forces to boost impact lending
He also added that the firm will make further improvements to its Auto-Invest functionality this year, including adding the ability to transfer a fixed monthly amount into the Lendahand wallet.
Another area of focus is making sure there are fewer periods when investors’ money is not earning any interest. To achieve this, Hoogenhuizen said they are currently testing an early repayment system, moving repayments from the middle of the month to the end of the first week.
“In an ideal world, we want a project to start on the day it is fully funded. We will work on this, but it is more challenging than it seems. Don’t expect this to be implemented this year, but know we are working on it,” he added.
Lendahand is also working on improving its financial dashboard so investors can see the total of all their outstanding loans by default, regardless of the currency.
Read more: Lendahand Ethex swings into red during “tough year”
“This year, Lendahand will likely surpass the €200m (£169m) investment mark. I hope that in 10 years, we can reach €1bn together. For that, it is essential that Lendahand is a stable company, and for that, it is important that Lendahand makes (some) profit,” Hoogenhuizen wrote.
“Lendahand is a (social) commercial company. We must stand on our own feet. To achieve this, we have received help from a group of investors led by the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund. Thanks to their investment, we are taking steps that bring us closer to this goal.”
Hoogenhuizen’s appointment as chief executive was announced earlier this month, with co-founder Koen The stepping down after 10 years.
In 2022, ABN Ambro Sustainable Impact fund took a stake in Lendahand, which then acquired French platform Babyloan, expanding its operations.
Read more: Lendahand chief executive to step down
