QOF Launched for Waste-to-Energy Projects

Mention the words “Qualified Opportunity Fund,” and the first thing that might come to mind are real estate-specific projects. However, the Opportunity Zones legislation involves many types of projects, from investments in defined businesses, to other types of funds. An example of that is the Harambee Opportunity Fund, administered by NES Financial and formed with help from EazyDoit Inc., that was set up specifically to direct dollars to projects involving waste-to-energy development and industrial parks.

Specifically, the fund, which is targeting projects in Alabama, will co-invest in the USWTE Solutions Opportunity Fund to help support waste-to-energy technology and industrial parks, with the ultimate goal focused on social problems assistance. The Harambee Opportunity Fund is authorized to raise $150 million, which it will initially invest in creation of waste-to-energy projects and plants in Alabama.

In addition to addressing the issue of toxic waste in the environment, the qualified opportunity fund (QOF) will leverage the WTE investment to work with the Huntsville Network for Urban School Renewal (HNUSR) which, in turn, targets poverty related factors contributing to low-academic achievement of children, food scarcity and lack of employment skills and opportunities for individuals in Huntsville’s low-income communities.

As part of the investment, it’s anticipated that 115 jobs will be created (70 full-time and 40 part-time) through workforce development programs. Furthermore, the WTE plants will create 40 to 100 skilled and unskilled local jobs at each facility, with an annual payroll ranging from $2.4 million-$6 million.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Amy Sorter