Stella Vermögensverwaltungs, the dedicated investment arm of the Heinz Hermann Thiele Family Foundation and Julia Thiele-Schürhoff, has formally appointed the Swiss-based impact asset manager ResponsAbility Investments to oversee a landmark €200 million mandate.
This bespoke investment program is designed to funnel long-term capital into impact-focused private equity funds across the world’s most dynamic emerging economies, specifically targeting Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The mandate is not merely a financial commitment but a strategic effort to align private wealth with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The capital will be deployed in regions where “funding gaps” are most acute, ensuring that every euro invested serves as a catalyst for local economic development.
The investment philosophy is built upon a Triple Bottom Line framework:
- Profit: Targeting resilient financial returns through disciplined fund selection in high-growth sectors.
- People: Improving living standards by backing companies that create formal, high-quality jobs and provide essential goods and basic services.
- Planet: Prioritizing and supporting environmentally sustainable business models that mitigate climate risks in developing nations.
For the Thiele family, this mandate represents a core component of their legacy and responsible wealth management strategy. Julia Thiele-Schürhoff emphasized that as an entrepreneurial family, the goal is to look beyond short-term gains toward meaningful, long-term impact.
Julia Thiele-Schürhoff, stated:
This mandate allows us to deploy a meaningful share of our assets to where the need for impact investments is greatest. With ResponsAbility, we have an experienced partner who shares our values and can help turn this vision into reality.
ResponsAbility Investments brings decades of experience in navigating the complexities of emerging market private equity. By acting as the manager for this €200 million mandate, they will use their “disciplined fund investment programs” to identify managers on the ground who can deliver both social change and financial stability.
Ralph Keitel, Head of Fund Investments at ResponsAbility, highlighted that the entry of private capital from entrepreneurial families is a vital signal for the market, proving that private sector expertise and social responsibility can scale entrepreneurs in frontier markets effectively.
This partnership marks a significant trend in the wealth management industry: the shift of large European family offices toward sophisticated, direct-impact mandates. By targeting growth-oriented companies rather than just microfinance, the Thiele family and ResponsAbility are helping to build the “missing middle” of the corporate sector in emerging markets.
