"Asia and Africa today" № 10 2020
| Title |
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA IN THE GLOBAL SYSTEM OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT |
| DOI |
10.31857/S032150750011117-0 |
| Аuthor | Gleb K. SUGAKOV Junior Research Fellow, Centre for Global and Strategic Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) |
| Abstract: | This article provides an overview of Sub-Saharan Africa’s place in the global system of social investing. This region is interested in attracting social investments that focus not only on profit, but also on social and environmental benefits. The author considers such types of social investing as responsible investing, sustainable investing and impact investing. The article analyzes the world practices of their accounting, as well as the theoretical component of these concepts. The theoretical content of these terms is given by leading international organizations in this field, which are supported by the UN. These organizations also keep records of the geographical distribution of such investments in the world. It is revealed that the vast majority of companies that are members of these organizations represent the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Thus, their concepts are not truly global. This contributes to the illusion that only countries of the Western world are engaged in social investing. From a theoretical point of view modern principles of social investment were successfully applied by the Soviet Union and formed the basis of its economic cooperation with African countries. Among developing countries, Sub-Saharan Africa, along with Latin America and the Caribbean, is the main recipient of social investment, which is a new tool for the economic expansion of Western companies. The justification for this expansion is concern for the social and environmental effects of investment, as well as the achievement of sustainable development goals. This problem can be considered as a terminological component of the global information war. Thus, it is necessary to popularize the social activities of Russian companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Keywords: | Sub-Saharan Africa, social investment, responsible investing, sustainable investing, impact investing, Russian-African relations |
| Pages | 52-58 |
