LB Equity has introduced two new programmes to continue incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives into the investment firm and across its portfolio companies.
The firm has consulted a number of international frameworks and standards to develop its own roadmap for integrating ESG principles into the investment firm and portfolio companies. They have adopted the UN’s Six Principles for Responsible Investment to guide decision making within the fund and among portfolio companies. To implement these principles in a meaningful way, LB Equity has developed a proprietary scorecard and questions incorporating tools such as the GIIN and SASB frameworks that can be used to quantitatively evaluate new investment opportunities.
“We started LB Equity to invest in high-growth beauty and wellness companies that also have an environmental and social awareness, as well as a mission behind the brand,” says Jay Lucas, founder of LB Equity. “Part of our investment is to provide appropriate guidance and development, and that is why we have devoted the time and resources to creating formalised ESG guidelines for private companies. The scorecard is also a great step forward in how we evaluate our current portfolio companies and our future investments.”
As part of these programs, LB Equity also formalised supplier criteria to evaluate suppliers to ensure they are in line with the firm’s sustainability and overall fundamental ideals for its brands and an ESG resource database to help them moving forward. The firm has created sustainability profiles with resources and recommendations for each of the beauty and wellness brands in the portfolio, including: Defunkify ; Immunocologie ; Marula Beauty; MD Complete; Olika; Soapbox Soaps; Standard Dose; and Herb Essentials.
“ESG issues are a personal passion of mine and I am proud to be working with a firm that shares the drive to help other companies incorporate the proper procedures for sustainability,” says Erin Knowles, LB Equity’s sustainability and social impact manager. “We have focused on making these tools intuitive and accessible for smaller private companies.”
