The SIFTA Programme is funded by the European Investment Bank and led by the Frankfurt School of Finance’s Advisory Services. The SIFTA programme supports two beneficiary groups: microfinance and social finance providers, such as investment funds, Fund-of-Funds, co-investment schemes, impact investors, among others. Targeted capacity building and technical assistance services through a consortium of service providers consisting of Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH and a team of experts.  

Established with the objective of growing prosperity and providing access to financial services for all, Erste Social Finance Holding (ESFH) is a joint venture of Erste Group Bank AG and ERSTE Foundation. As a social enterprise, ESFH aims for positive social impact and sustainable financial results. As a result, it does not distribute dividends but reinvests all generated profits into new activities. 

ESFH’s Request

Erste Social Finance Holding is in the process of developing their impact strategy in Central and Eastern Europe. We were asked to identify strategies and channels to increase deal flow with a major focus on the topic social housing (affordable/social housing, student housing, senior living) and offer high-level suggestions presented on how to increase ESFH’s pipeline. This also meant evaluating ESFH’s current positioning in the impact market from an expert’s perspective, helping ESFH identify focus areas (both geographically and thematically), and creating visibility on a potential pipeline for ESFH’s impact investment strategy.  

The SFNL Approach

The project was structured in three key phases: analyzing the current landscape, scoping the market and engaging with stakeholders, and providing recommendations for further pipeline development. 

Phase 1 focused on assessing ESFH’s existing impact priorities, the team’s core strengths, and specific criteria for future projects. SFNL analyzed the organization’s current areas of focus and identified key directions for upcoming deals. 

Phase 2 involved a collaborative effort with the ESFH team to refine their impact strategy within their broad scope of impact finance, to create more focus and higher likelihood of success of pipeline building efforts. While ESFH maintains a broad range of impact objectives, our Vienna workshop helped hone in on a specific focus: social housing in Czechia. 

Phase 3 included targeted stakeholder interviews with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and key changemakers in Czechia’s social housing sector. These insights allowed us to analyze the current ecosystem and assess opportunities for impact investment. This phase concluded with two collaborative workshops in Prague, led by SFNL and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, where we engaged the Česká Social Banking team and nonprofit representatives in meaningful dialogue around social housing initiatives.