b'Annual Report & Accounts 2022 Mercia Asset Management PLC 33Strategic reportPortfolio businesses will be further1.In relation to our three guidingPositive pathways encouraged to submit their responsesprinciples developed from the UNsMercias team grew by 29 new recruits, to an ESG questionnaire to Merciasustainable development goals. of which 14 are women. One new annually. We intend that this mandatory2.By referencing our portfolio againstappointee has taken a full-timequestionnaire will keep ESG on thethe IRIS+ system (developed by thededicated talent-development roleinvestee companys agenda and theGlobal Impact Investing Network)in the P&T Team.responses will be reviewed regularly byfor measuring, managing and management so that we can monitoroptimising impact. Our Mercia Heart programme our portfolio businesses ESG progress,3.With our own approach tocontinues to beat strong and underliesactions and improvements. measurement, which we will refinethe strong culture which has evolved in line with industry standards asover the past two years. We marked Team training recognition of impact develops inour first Mercia Heart Day in February The Responsible Investment Committeethe years ahead. where we sent all employees a box of has implemented an internal traininglove-themed cakes and sweets.programme that supports ourThe launch of this new EIS fund raised investment team in carrying ESGc.5million post year end, in addition toWe have eased the transition back principles forward to our portfoliothe c.16million of new capital raised into our offices with the launch of our businesses. Investors typically receivethe year ended 31 March 2022. Flex+ Policy, which allows for a hybrid training every two months to deepenmodel of three days in the office, also their understanding of its principles. Progress made toward net-zero offering core office hours to enable All training sessions are then uploadedMercia has engaged with the third-partysome flexibility on office days, which to our e-learning platform to serve asbusiness Positive Planet to calculate ourallows for maintaining a good work/reference documents going forward. carbon footprint and help us produce alife balance.reduction plan to lower emissions and Investing in Women Code achieve our target of net-zero. Currently,We have further expanded our benefits Our strategy to promote an openour emissions per person are in theoffering with the addition of an electric and inclusive culture within Merciaaccepted range for a business in the firstvehicle leasing scheme which is open is correlated with our relation to theyear of its journey toward this goal. to all employees after a qualifying market. Mercia is a signatory to theperiod. Currently 11 employees have Investing in Women Code, which meansNext year we will continue to engagetaken advantage of this.that we are committed to making surewith Positive Planet as we work towards that venture capital investment is asreducing our carbon emissions on ourOur O2 team are still driving new ideas accessible to women as it is to men.journey to net zero. to benefit both Mercia and our team As little as 2.3% of all venture capitalmembers, seeking to ensure that investment goes to female founders, Support for internal talent we continue to implement positive but we are aiming to address thisWe aim to be the first choice forchange. Our soon-to-be-launched gender imbalance by demonstrablyinvestors, investees and employees.Great Minds Mentoring initiative promoting and supporting femaleAn aspect of our commitment tois aligned to these objectives and founder-led businesses. responsibility is supporting ourwill support each team members employees to grow and developaspirations for growth.Launch of the first Knowledge- professionally. Our successes as an intensive Impact EIS Fund investor all begin with the cultivation of Mercia has long invested in impactfulinternal talent.businesses that operate in fields like Biomedicine and Clean Tech. LaunchingMercia has focused on strengthening our impact investment fund was ateam dynamics to foster feelings of natural progression of this legacy. inclusion and promoting psychological safety within our organisation. We The Knowledge-intensive Impact EISbelieve that inclusive teams, where Fund only invests in businesses thatindividuals feel safe and respected, are provide solutions to environmental orthose which perform best.societal challenges. To ensure these businesses affect real and quantifiable change, we will judge their qualitative and quantitative impact in three ways:'