Outstanding Community Contribution of the Year

Winner – The Riverside Company

For this Community award, private equity firm The Riverside Company has provided support to a refugee project in Belgium, one of the countries in which this firm has a presence.

The ‘Shelter for Ukraine’ initiative was launched by Alter Pharma, one of The Riverside Company’s portfolio companies.

The shelter is located in an empty office building in Anderlecht, Brussels, next to Alter Pharma’s headquarters. With a capacity of 60 individuals, it is currently home to 18 families – a total of 53 people, of whom 25 are young children.

The initiative was launched in March 2022 as a result of Alter Pharma’s desire to support Ukrainian people forced to leave their home country because of the military invasion, and Riverside’s immediate support for this humanitarian cause as part of its ESG commitments.

The empty office space in Anderlecht was turned into a fully equipped shelter within a couple of weeks, thanks to the contribution of more than 100 volunteers, over €50,000 of donations, collections of furniture and clothes, strong partnerships with the commune of Anderlecht, the Ukrainian Embassy and many other public stakeholders, and the generosity of more than 20 shelter business partners, including The Riverside Company.

Shortlisted

Societe Generale Securities Services – The French asset servicer was recognised for the work it has done to promote sustainable investment throughout the industry. At the heart of this effort is the annual European Investor Summit organised by Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS). The event aims to bring together the leading specialists to address the major issues around sustainability. The company has also launched an ESGLab to allow managers to discuss their difficulties and share best practice in this important yet still developing field of investment. In addition, SGSS employees have started a mentoring programme for start-ups to help speed up this development. One example is the Catapult programme launched in Luxembourg, which focuses on the development of African start-ups.