Financial inclusion

To date, the African Local Currency Bond Fund has invested $420m in African companies in sectors ranging from financial inclusion to renewable energy and affordable housing.

TBC Bank Uzbekistan will use the proceeds to grow its lending business to historically underserved groups in Central Asia’s most populous country.

Trading impact credits based on social outcomes is proving a success in some places and should be scaled up to offset constraints on social funding, a new report concludes.

The collaboration will offer flexible lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. Access to financing remains one of the most significant obstacles to growth for small businesses in the UK.

The initiative aims to improve access to funding for companies in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure, while supporting gender economic equality.

The BluePeak Private Capital Fund II aims to provide flexible credit solutions to Africa’s underserved mid-sized businesses, and has received backing from several European development finance institutions.

The loan is part of a $199m International Finance Corporation-led initiative to support Amartha, an Indonesia fintech company operating in rural Indonesia connecting underserved microenterprises with affordable capital.

The asset manager is providing facilities to allow the bank to increase support for SMEs and clean energy projects in the West African country.

The Refugee Investment Facility aims to improve the lives of refugees and their host communities through investments into SMEs driving the economic inclusion of refugees, as iGravity’s Patrick Elmer tells Impact Investor.

The UK’s development finance institution, BII, has backed a fund which addresses funding gap for women-led enterprises in West Africa.