Kimpton brands ethical investment group Alquity

Kimpton Creative has branded new ethical investment company Alquity Investment Management, which launches today at the South African High Commission in London.

Alquity’s investment model aims to generate returns while improving the lives of African communities by re-investing 25 per cent of performance fees into local enterprises. Alquity’s chairman Paul Robinson says, ’People’s perception of Africa is famine and poverty, but they’re missing the incredible investment potential.’

Kimpton Creative was commissioned in June 2009 following a recommendation, says Robinson.

The consultancy worked on the name, a truncation of ’altruistic equity’, developed the brand story and designed the visual identity, which has been applied to stationery, the website and print publicity.

The consultancy was asked to create an identity that expressed Alquity’s message and was visually striking. Kimpton Creative founder David Kimpton says, ’Alquity is an unconventional outfit and was happy to set itself apart from what is a relatively conservative marketplace.’

The overall identity conveys the idea ’A equals’, denoting fairness and the varied possibilities of investing in developing economies. The rhino and bird logo, designed for one of the company’s initial products, echoes Alquity’s ethos of fair exchange. ’The rhino also benefits from the bird feeding off and cleaning its back. It’s nature’s representation of reciprocity,’ says Kimpton.