In a developing economy such as South Africa, socially responsible investment has a different flavour from the rest of the world. In developed countries, the emphasis is on ethical issues such as alcohol, tobacco and more recently on environmental issues and, perhaps, corporate governance.

Ethical funds have been successful in South Africa's 2m strong Muslim community and have proved to be top performers against conventional funds - over five years the Futuregrowth Albaraka Equity fund has given a 29.7 per cent return compared with 25.4 per cent from the average domestic equity fund.