Co-founder of Social Enterprises Ghana, Amma Sefa-Dedeh Lartey has urged investors in the country to invest in social enterprises.

This, Amma explained, will positively impact society and also enable investors reap an overall social and environmental benefit.

"We have some of our members who are dealing with the poorest in society. They have set up businesses that buy from these Ghanaians and even though they are businesses, part of their aim is to buy and increase the income level of these people," she said.

Speaking on JoyNews' the Pulse with Gifty Andoh Appiah, Ms Sefa-Dedeh Lartey said social enterprises have helped in changing the lives of many in society, however, just as the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted other businesses, social enterprises have equally been hit by the negative impact of the pandemic.

Social enterprises are often non-profit businesses set up to solve social or environmental problems. The primary aim of such businesses is to improve social objectives.

She explained that findings from a nationwide survey conducted on social enterprises revealed that 80% of these businesses have been negatively hit by the pandemic.

This, she said has led to most social enterprises being unable to efficiently execute their duties.

She added that many workers of these enterprises have also been laid off, following the impact of the pandemic.

"Most of these businesses are SMEs and they have seen a reduction in revenue. This has also affected the businesses of their customers as well," she said.

Nonetheless, Amma said impact investing is one sure way to revive social enterprises and help them recover from the rigours of the pandemic.

"Impact investing is about investing to derive a social impact in addition to getting financial return. We all invest; we've been buying treasury bills and buying shares, and we want a financial return. But this time we are asking investors to also demand an environmental return," she said.

"When you look at the market, globally, it's a 715 billion market, and it grows at an annual rate of 17%," Ms Lartey said.

In addition, she said investing in this sector is very important because, it is the only part of the economy which is growing despite Covid-19.