by the MicroCapital Team - Client Protection, Risks, South Asia, East Asia and Pacific, Trends/Challenges -

SPECIAL REPORT: Partner with Agents for Impact, and We’ll Drive Impact Together!

This article is sponsored by Agents for Impact (AFI). We invite you to learn more about the firm via LinkedIn.

Andrij Fetsun, Founder & CEO at AFI:
AFI celebrated five years in bus­iness in October this year, and my team has attained several impact­ful goals during this challenging time. This would not have been possible without the im­mense support of our clients: the Ger­man impact-driven microfinance fund Invest in Visions, which has accumu­lated a volume of around EUR 1 billion with a major focus on micro­finance; HANSA­INVEST, which is based in Hamburg; and the crowdfunding platform Lendahand. Among the services we provide these clients is to perform plausibility checks of their funds’ ESG reports.

As the founder of AFI, I would like to highlight the culture we have built with our dedicated team that has come to­gether during these five years from dif­ferent parts of the world. I believe that corporate culture is crucial for every com­pany, especially for startups. Initially, we had trouble attracting Agents since we were not a well-established name in the industry or able to pay high salaries from the outset. Therefore, I focused on what truly makes for a great workplace – values and culture. Personal growth and company growth need to go hand-in-hand. I have endeavored to let all my team members take ownership of their personal growth as they propel the company for­ward. I am proud to state that AFI unites nine nationalities, where each Agent’s life has been positively changed by being associated with AFI, and we, in turn, have been enriched by their presence.

We at AFI aim to be highly accessible to our clients (35 MFIs in 17 countries so far), virtually as well as on-site, and to continue being trustworthy and capable advisors to them. As a result, our portfolio has generated EUR 29 million in interest for our investors with 0 percent default since 2018. This – in addition to the social impact – we are very proud of!

Andrii Tiurenkov, Director of Debt Investments:
Andrii Tiurenkov’s position is central to AFI’s strategy of ad­vancing sustainable finance in emerging and frontier mar­kets. This work strongly aligns with several UN Sustainable Devel­opment Goals (SDGs), such as financial inclu­sion and entrepreneurship.

When we launched our firm five years ago, AFI’s challenge was clear: to build an investment process from the ground up. To meet this ob­jective, Andrii set the invest­ment agenda, designed tools to achieve KPIs, developed risk-assessment protocols and built relationships with potential investees. The management of investment operations at AFI involves oversee­ing a wide range of tasks, including origination, due diligence and fund disburse­ment. Andrii’s strategic guidance and oper­ational man­agement have resulted in a portfolio that is both fi­nancially solid and strongly aligned with sustainability goals.

Under his leadership, the team has channeled EUR 300 million to 35 MFIs in 17 countries. However, Andrii’s role at AFI goes beyond the job title; it’s about leading the way in responsible investments that pro­duce both financial and sustainable outcomes.

Shreya Shankar, Head of Legal & Compliance:
AFI’s legal team is proudly helmed by Shreya Shan­kar, a lawyer who was re­cently honored as one of India’s top women chief legal officers by Women Entrepreneur India. Our legal team is razor-sharp in its focus on delivering quality AML-KYC compliance and transactional legal support to its impact investor clients seek­ing debt oppor­tunities in emerging markets across the world. Both of AFI’s lawyers are from India and bring expertise in Indian debt and equity transactions that is a great asset to the company as well as the clients we repre­sent. Aside from providing end-to-end support on trans­actions, we also provide technical assistance tailor-made to each client’s requirements.

Shreya notes, “Our team’s expertise in Indian laws can be of great help to im­pact investors looking to India for invest­ment opportunities. And I am excited to see how we can expand our support beyond debt fi­nancing in this country.”

Yannick Rust, Director of Sustainability Rating & Risk:
Yannick Rust heads AFI’s Rating and Risk division with a deep-rooted pas­sion for sus­tainability and im­pact measure­ment, drawn from nearly a decade of experience in impact investing and international dev­elopment frameworks, such as the SDGs and the MDGs before them. He joined AFI shortly after its founding in March 2019 and codeveloped our in-house sus­tain­ability tool AFISAR© in collabor­a­tion with an expert from Moody’s. During the past several years, he has honed his expertise in 17 countries across South­east Asia and South America.

As of today, the rating team has eval­uated over 100 MFIs in eight countries through its flagship product AFISAR©. For 2024, we are adding new features to AFISAR© that align with the latest SFDR requirements, including en­hanced PAI reporting and AI-driven im­provements in data collection and user experience.

Also during 2024, AFI’s rating team is gearing up to extend its con­sultancy services to financial institutions in dev­eloping markets, following two successful projects with top German asset managers.

Yannick reports, “As the Rating and Risk team, we are looking to 2024 with enthusiasm for the new capabilities of AFISAR© and our expanding consulting services, all aimed at bolstering long-term sus­tainability for our partners.”

Similar Posts: