How can an investment company power up Scotland?

Standard Life Aberdeen is a world-class investment company. Headquartered in Scotland, their purpose is to invest for a better future. As well as delivering for clients, this means creating an inclusive culture and contributing to wider society.

Power up

Aberdeen Standard Investments is the asset management brand of Standard Life Aberdeen. Aberdeen Standard Investments is a lead partner, in conjunction with Edinburgh University and the Scottish Government, in the Big Issue Invest’s Power Up Programme in Scotland. The programme strives to become a GBP 1 million lending scheme that offers investment and support to early-stage social ventures across Scotland. The scheme builds on Big Issue Invest’s significant expertise in social venture investment, which since its launch in 2005, has seen the organisation directly invest over GBP 30 million in more than 300 social ventures.

Power Up Scotland from Standard Life Aberdeen 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report

Building communities

The Power Up Programme has been designed for social enterprises, charities, or private enterprises – with social value creation being the main criteria. Each applicant has the opportunity to access loan funding of up to GBP 50,000 to help them build on the good work they currently do within their communities. Successful applicants also receive mentoring and business development support for a two year period. In fact, Standard Life Aberdeen’s staff have provided over 1,000 hours of mentoring support so far.

Hey Scotland

The period poverty-tackling Hey Girls was one of 13 organisations that successfully completed the programme. Its approach is based on a ‘buy one give one’ model, meaning for every pack purchased another is donated to a person in need. Hey Girls products are now being stocked in major supermarkets, and the organisation is also a key provider in the Scottish Government’s initiative to provide free sanitary products to all pupils and students. They have supplied menstrual products to over 1400 schools, 12 local authorities and 9 universities.

“This story shows how Standard Life Aberdeen supports Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, specifically Target 8.3: “Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises including through access to financial services.”