The Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR), which the EU passed in 2019, resulted in a “seismic shift” for impact investment funds and their investees. At the closing plenary of European Microfinance Week 2023, Emmanuelle Javoy of Switzerland-based investor Symbiotics explained her firm’s response to SFDR. The company invested a large amount of resources to review the sustainability objectives of each of its 25 funds.
Jurgen Hammer of the
The Dutch NGO Aflatoun International and Bahrain-based financial advisory firm Fintech Robos recently agreed to collaborate on their efforts to expand financial literacy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The partners plan to promote financial education through the development of “curriculum and training materials”
Netherlands-based Triodos Investment Management recently disbursed a total of USD 3 million from its Triodos Microfinance Fund and Triodos Fair Share Fund to UNI2 Microcrédito, a Colombian microfinance institution (MFI), to support the growth of the MFI’s loan portfolio. Established in 2014, UNI2 provides microcredit for purposes such as
The Luxembourg-based fund manager Bamboo Capital Partners recently selected David Grimaud as its CEO, marking the departure of Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, the company’s founder. Mr Grimaud has a background in impact investing and asset management
Abler Nordic, a public-private partnership whose investors include the Danish and Norwegian governments, recently led the Series B fundraising round of Indian agricultural technology (agtech) company Ergos, which offers crop storage and a digital platform linking farmers to markets. The funding round comprised
After first investing in the non-banking financial company – microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) in 2014, the development finance institution Abler Nordic has now exited its investment in Satin Creditcare, a provider of financial services to underrepresented women in India. Among the initial goals of the partnership was to
Impact Asset Management (I-AM), a unit of Austria’s C-Quadrat Investment Group, recently announced that it disbursed loans totaling USD 10 million during August through its Dual Return Funds to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in seven countries. Although the names of the MFIs and the amounts invested in each have not been disclosed, I-AM does report having invested via the funds in two MFIs for the first time, one each in
The government-owned Belgian Investment Company for Developing Companies, also known as BIO, has announced that Joris Totté will be its new CEO. Mr Totté will succeed Luuk Zonneveld, who has held the title for 11 years and has taken on the role of Chair of the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), a Brussels-based NGO
Colombia’s Sura Investments recently raised COP 100 billion (USD 25 million) for its Sura Private Debt Fund from IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group. The fund was launched in 2020 with an initial volume of COP 38 billion (USD 9.5 million). The goal is to provide local-currency funding on longer terms than are otherwise available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) Holdings, a Sri Lankan unit of the Japanese conglomerate Orix, recently paid an undisclosed sum to Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management to acquire 28 percent of the shares of Rwanda’s Unguka Bank. Unguka provides deposit, lending and other services to individuals as well as micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The bank has 15 service locations in the capital and three provinces. It serves 1,700 clients with total assets of USD 29 million. Unguka received its license from the National Bank of Rwanda in 2005.
Geert Peetermans, Co-CEO of Incofin commented: “From the time we
The Swiss investment manager BlueOrchard recently raised an additional USD 14.6 million from undisclosed investors for its BlueOrchard Sustainable Assets Fund (BOSAF), an infrastructure debt fund active in “growth markets.” Among BOSAF’s outstanding placements are:
Nigeria-based Okra Solar, whose products serve 14,000 people in Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria, and the Philippines, recently raised USD 8 million in equity from five investors. The investment package is led by US-based At One Ventures and includes USD 1.5 million from
The Brazilian government’s Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) and the multilateral Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
This year’s summit of the US-based NGO Concordia is intended to further the organization’s mission of confronting “the world’s most pressing challenges through
Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle-income countries, recently issued a loan of USD 2.25 million to Egypt-based Money Fellows. Money Fellows plans to use the fresh capital to expand its digitization of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), also known as money circles, as well as to broaden
US-based Global Environment Fund (GEF) Capital Partners recently secured USD 30 million for its South Asia Growth Fund (SAGF) III from the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO). The funding is to boost the fund’s “equity and equity-linked” investments in middle-market institutions engaged in
Licify, a Colombian company offering construction procurement and related digital financial services, recently secured an investment package totaling USD 3.4 million. The group of investors includes
The Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) recently loaned USD 50 million to Uzbekistan-based Joint Stock Commercial Bank Hamkorbank. Hamkorbank plans to use 70 percent of the fresh funds to finance