Adenia has won the 'Impact project/investment of the year – Social inclusion/community development' category for its social inclusion efforts with portfolio company Quickmart, as judges were particularly impressed by the company's commitment to women and rural communities.

The investor first backed the Kenyan grocery retail supermarket chain in 2018, which today operates more than 50 branches in the country. To date, Quickmart has centred it efforts on social inclusion, focusing on providing decent wages, employee benefits and career development opportunities, in the form of training programmes to enhance skills and improve productivity.

Over the past year, Adenia has focused Quickmart's expansion on more 'rural and underserved areas', growing the business in areas of the highest unemployment rates. This job creation has gone hand-in-hand with long-term community development and social stability more broadly.

During the past 12 months, the business has also achieved greater gender diversity with 40% of its leadership positions held by women. The business has also introduced unconscious bias workshops to support this improvement.

"In the last year alone, Quickmart has created well over 1,100 quality jobs, offering competitive wages, healthcare provision, and career development opportunities," Martha Osier, partner at Adenia Partners, told Environmental Finance.

"This not only serves to benefit the employees and their families, but the wider community through greater social stability, economic development and reduced unemployment, particularly in rural and underserved parts of the country.

"We're grateful for this recognition and look forward to continuing to support Quickmart's further growth."