Lulalend, a funder of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, recently partnered with Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle- income countries, to issue bonds supplying USD 4.7 million to Lulalend. The bond issue is deemed socially responsible per the guidelines of the Switzerland-based International Capital Market Association (ICMA).
Lulalend was founded in 2015 and offers online loans of ZAR 10,000 (USD 590) to ZAR 5 million (USD 300,000) with terms of one month to one year. Sample interest rates decline from 4.5 percent per month to 2 percent per month during the life of the loan.
Founded in 2004, Symbiotics provides for-profit investment intermediary and business services to investors in and practitioners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise development as well as lenders to low- and middle-income households in low- and middle-income countries. As of December 2021, Symbiotics reports USD 2.9 billion in assets under management.
Sources and Additional Resources
Symbiotics press release
https://symbioticsgroup.com/symbiotics-investments-launched-a-usd-4-7-million-social-bond-with-lulalend-in-south-africa/
Lulalend homepage
https://www.lulalend.co.za
ICMA Social Bond Principles
https://www.icmagroup.org/sustainable-finance/the-principles-guidelines-and-handbooks/social-bond-principles-sbp/
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