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Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to problematize economic moralities and future-oriented narratives in impact investing. Through a case study from Ghana, I will show how such investments produce ambiguous formations that contribute to reproducing global inequalities but are also contested by actors at their margins.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to shed light on the economy/morality nexus in socio-technical formations engendered by social and impact investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will do so by looking at the case of a social enterprise, Sust-Agric Africa (SAA), which proposes to alleviate poverty in rural Ghana through sustainable agriculture. As a social enterprise, SAA operates with capital provided by a variety of investors, including impact investment funds and individuals committed to bridging the gap between values and value by pairing financial returns with social and environmental outcomes. Framing its activities in terms of a win-win solution, the company aims to increase smallholder farmers’ income by offering them bundles of inputs and training on credit, and a secure market for their crops.

I will argue that, underpinned by narratives of environmental and social crises, the socio-technical formation surrounding SAA’s activities produces circuits where capital movements are engendered and determined by dominant and prescriptive economic moralities that claim to contribute towards realising a better future. On the one hand, I maintain that the power of such narratives resides precisely in their appeal to (supposedly) shared ethical horizons, and that they contribute to the reproduction of existing global inequalities and wealth distribution.

On the other hand, I will illustrate how, when translated into practice, such narratives result in socio-technical formations that produce uncertain results and are challenged by actors whose practices and worldviews open spaces for questioning them (with their underlying assumptions) and their moral claims.