The Skoll Foundation and Capricorn Investment Group are proud to partner with Apis & Heritage Capital Partners in an innovative initiative aimed to spur economic mobility in historically marginalized communities of color in the U.S. The Legacy Fund I designed by A&H will increase business equity ownership for large workforces of color.
Alongside our partners at the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, the Skoll Foundation invested in A&H’s new private equity fund aimed at helping to close the racial wealth gap through the creation of employee-owned businesses. A&H aims to buy essential service businesses with large workforces of color and transition them into 100 percent employee-owned enterprises with its “employee-led buyout” (ELBO) model, generating significant increases in wealth for workers and attractive returns for investors.
A&H’s Legacy Fund I aims to buy at least eight closely held companies from retiring founders, converting at least 500 workers over the next five years into employee/owners. A&H will focus on companies mainly in waste hauling, landscaping, elder care, commercial cleaning, food processing, and other essential service sectors in America.
“There are two traditional paths to build wealth in America—you can own your home, or you can own your business,” said A&H Co-Founder Philip Reeves. “A&H is focused on the latter, especially for workforces of color, which have been shut out of equity ownership for so long.”
The Skoll Foundation is proud to invest in the efforts of A&H to build a more inclusive economy through this innovative financial approach.
