By SASC’s Managing Director, Ben Rick

Natalie was SASC’s first employee, joining as Director of Impact in November 2013. After five years of working with us, we are sad to announce that she is moving onto pastures new.  She has decided to step down from her role as Director of Impact but will remain working in the social investment sector as a consultant.

Natalie ends her time with us on a high. Last month she won a WISE100 award from Nat West.  We thought this was an opportune moment to thank her for work and reflect on how she has been instrumental in helping to grow SASC into the organisation it is today.

Five years ago, there were just the two of us and today we employ 10 people. We have two investment funds, the Community Investment Fund and the Third Sector Investment fund, and we will soon be launching a new fund focussed on residential housing.

We have made 25 investments in 19 organisations, 7 of whom have repaid. Our investments have totalled almost £27 million.

When we started out, we had big ambitions. Natalie and I share the same vision on how to progress the organisation. Helping social enterprises and charities to define and measure their impact and grow has been fundamental to our work.

We’ve worked with investees to understand what they need and the difficulties they face, and this has helped us develop innovative financial products for them. We have also offered financial support and options that are clear and not overly complicated.

Building up good relationships and trust with investees has been paramount and Natalie has led by example and shown the team how this is done.

Natalie has also been influential internally in helping us scale. She helped hire new people and attract non-exec directors and now we have a great team in place with a strong skill set that will take the organisation to its next stage of development.

Natalie has made an impact in the wider social investment arena too and recently won a NatWest WISE100 (Women in Social Enterprise 100) award that recognises 100 of the most inspiring and influential women in social enterprise.

Five years ago awards like this didn’t exist so it’s an indication of how important the UK social investment sector has become.

Natalie has been part of this journey, not only at SASC, but in the wider social investment market. She has worked tremendously hard with all our investees to help them get the right investment and support to enable their organisation to grow and thrive.

On behalf of everyone at SASC and all the investees that worked with Natalie over the past five years we’d like to thank her for her ambition, drive and energy and wish her every success in the future.