MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agents for Impact Loans $14m from IIV to Kinara Capital of India, BRAC Tanzania for Microfinance, SMEs

Agents for Impact (AFI), a Germany-based impact investing company, recently informed MicroCapital that it has issued the following loans on behalf of Germany’s Invest in Visions (IIV): EUR 8 million (USD 9.2 million) to India’s Kinara Capital and USD 5 million to BRAC Tanzania Finance Limited. AFI aims to bring together investors to make progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Kinara issues collateral-free loans to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises. The loans, which range in size from INR 100,000 (USD 1,300) to INR 3 million (USD 40,000), are intended for purposes such as working capital and asset purchases. Although the firm promises “digital first” loans with decisions within 24 hours, it also provides services at the customer location and via 110 branches. Kinara is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange as a debt entity under the registered company name Visage Holdings and Finance Private Limited. As of March 2021, the company reported after-tax profit of INR 75 million (USD 1 million) on one-year income of INR 2.36 billion (USD 31.5 million) and total assets of INR 11.3 billion (USD 151 million).

BRAC Tanzania has provided small and medium-sized loans to 195,000 women – about half of whom live in rural areas – via 151 branches. The institution also offers services relating to education, empowerment and solar energy. BRAC Tanzania is controlled by the Dutch NGO Stichting BRAC International. BRAC International provides microfinance, education, agricultural, health, “ultra-poor graduation” and other programming in nine African and Asian countries. The name “BRAC” derives from that of Bangladeshi NGO Building Resources Across Communities.

Launched in 2006, IIV manages “investments in sustainable agriculture, social enterprises and social impact lending.” The firm created its primary product, IIV Mikrofinanzfonds, in 2011 to invest in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises via intermediaries in developing countries. It does this mainly via “small and medium-sized MFIs, particularly in rural areas.” The minimum investment in the fund is EUR 100 (USD 113). As of April 2022, IIV Mikrofinanzfonds has a volume of EUR 889 million (USD 934 million).

AFI, which was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Frankfurt, does not disclose the volume of its operations.

Sources and Additional Resources

Direct contact with AFI

Kinara homepage
https://www.kinaracapital.com/

Visage annual report
https://www.bseindia.com/corporates/ann.html?scrip=958576

BRAC Tanzania description
https://www.bracinternational.nl/en/where-we-work/tanzania/

BRAC International annual reports
https://www.bracinternational.nl/en/research-and-publications/annual-reports/

UN Sustainable Development Goals
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

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