The 'Fondo de Impacto Social' (FIS) - Social Impact Fund-, managed by COFIDES and attached to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, will support the growth of the Andalusian social enterprise UNEI, which for more than 30 years has been dedicated to the labor integration of people with disabilities, especially those with mental health issues. This is one of the social challenges that FIS is helping to address through financial and technical support to this company.
The Chairwoman and CEO of COFIDES, Ángela Pérez, and the CEO of the Andalusian company, Rafael Cía, signed today, in the presence of the Secretary General for Inclusion, Elena Rodríguez, the financing agreement by which the FIS grants a €3 million loan. With this loan, the company will finance its strategic plan for the next five years and increase by at least 13.5% the number of employees with disabilities during the same period.
The FIS financing will facilitate the investment to be made by UNEI to support the company's growth and expansion in the coming years. Additionally, the FIS will provide technical assistance for training personnel with disabilities in logistics with added technical value, an area in which UNEI is strengthening its activity and consequently creating increasingly qualified employment opportunities for these groups.
UNEI is the leading social enterprise in Andalusia in the employability of people with disabilities and a benchmark in Spain for the employment of people with mental health problems, a group considered difficult to include. The company fulfills its social mission through efficient and competitive development in the market of various business lines in the sectors of logistics, facility services, environmental conservation, advanced telecare technological development, and sports facilities management.
UNEI’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan strengthens the key growth paths of the company and contemplates consolidating some of its business lines, especially in logistics. Currently, the company has a workforce of over 1,600 people, of whom 87% have some form of disability and 50% have disabilities related to mental health problems.
The Secretary General for Inclusion, Elena Rodríguez, highlighted that “with this investment, the FIS addresses one of the main social challenges: improving the employability of people with disabilities. It also tackles mental health care, a priority for the Government of Spain. The goal is for each person to have the opportunity to develop their full potential and access decent employment on equal terms. With this public-private collaboration model, we multiply the results.”
The Chairwoman and CEO of COFIDES, Ángela Pérez, stated that “UNEI is a clear example of a purpose-driven company that has shown that economic profitability and social commitment can go hand in hand, generating sustained high impact over time. It has been a pioneer in the social economy in Spain and has achieved a level of excellence and stability over 30 years, becoming an international benchmark. For all these reasons, it is very satisfying to support, with the financing from FIS managed by COFIDES, the growth of a company that, with five diverse business lines, has made integration and equal opportunities its raison d'être.”
The CEO of UNEI, Rafael Cía, valued that “with COFIDES’ financing, UNEI will implement its 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, boosting the company’s growth and consolidating its logistics facilities. All this with the commitment to increase by at least 13.5% the number of people with disabilities, especially those related to mental health issues, within the team.”
ABOUT THE SOCIAL IMPACT FUND (FIS)
The FIS is a fund created by the Government through an addendum to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) and is financed with resources from the NextGenerationEU instrument. Attached to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, it is a public financial instrument aimed at strengthening the impact ecosystem in Spain by supporting investment projects carried out by companies and other entities that generate positive and measurable social and/or environmental impact.
This fund is endowed with €400 million and offers financial support to projects that are financially sustainable and contribute to addressing social and environmental challenges that are insufficiently covered, while also promoting the mobilization of additional private resources.
ABOUT UNEI
UNEI is the leading non-profit company in Andalusia by employment volume, with more than 1,600 people on its team. Of this total, 87% have some type of disability, and 50% have disabilities related to mental health issues. This latter figure makes it a national benchmark in labor inclusion for this group.
Majority-owned by Grupo Social ONCE through Ilunion and by the Andalusian Regional Government through the Public Andalusian Foundation for the Social Integration of People with Mental Illness (FAISEM), UNEI is a non-profit company that reinvests 100% of its profits in projects that create new employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
For every euro invested in UNEI, whether through billing, financing, or grants, society receives €3.33 in social return on investment (SROI), above the average of the social economy, according to the Socioeconomic Impact Analysis of UNEI conducted by the University of Seville. In this way, UNEI generated €142 million of positive impact in Andalusia in 2024.
ABOUT COFIDES
COFIDES is a state-owned commercial company that manages State financial funds, as well as resources from its own funds and third-party institutions with different objectives: the internationalization of the Spanish economy, the attraction of foreign investment in strategic sectors in Spain, the promotion of the impact economy in Spain, and the contribution to the development of the countries where it invests. Besides the State, which holds a majority stake, its shareholders include Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell, and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America.
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