MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD) Borrowing $45m from IDB for SMEs in Farming Value Chains, Improving Impact Measurement

The Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD), a US-based funder of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently secured a seven-year loan of USD 45 million from the private-sector member of the US-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, IDB Invest.

LAAD will use the fund to invest in SMEs active in “all stages of production, storage, technology and commercialization” in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. A portion of the funds are reserved to strengthen LAAD’s system for gauging the social and environmental impact of its work.

LAAD has a dozen private and public shareholders. For the year ending October 2017, it reported income of USD 25 million on assets of USD 816 million.

Formerly known as the Inter-American Investment Corporation, IDB Invest provides advisory services and “finances sustainable enterprises and projects to achieve financial results that maximize economic, social and environmental development for the region.” During 2017, it approved 234 loans, guarantees and other projects valued at USD 3.2 billion. As of 2018, it has a portfolio of USD 12 billion invested in 21 countries.

IDB is a multilateral finance institution that was established in 1959 and operates in Latin America and the Caribbean. IDB works with governments, companies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide both loans and grants to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), health, education and other sectors. IDB also provides technical assistance and research in these areas. With 48 member countries, IDB has offices in Washington, DC; Japan; France; and all 26 member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. During 2017, IDB approved loans totaling USD 13 billion and had USD 89 billion in loans outstanding.

Sources and Additional Resources

IDB press release
https://www.iadb.org/en/news/seven-latin-american-countries-will-receive-support-idb-invest-and-laad-strengthen-agriculture

LAAD annual reports
http://www.laadsa.com/download-annual-report.html

Inter-American Development Bank Annual Report 2017: Financial Statements
https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/8825

Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at http://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.