Financial inclusion

Both lenders aim to drive inclusive growth across the UK by unlocking funding for underserved small businesses that struggle to access finance.

The financing will go to TBC Bank Uzbekistan, the largest mobile-only bank in Central Asia’s most populous country, and will expand loans to women and women-led businesses.

The fund offers investors an evergreen structure with a global approach aimed at solving environmental and social impacts that are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

LeapFrog Investments has beaten its fundraising target for its Emerging Consumer Fund IV focused on high-impact healthcare and financial services companies in global growth markets.

According to the latest annual report by India’s Impact Investors Council, impact-focused enterprises in the country raised a total of $2.9bn in 2023, compared to the $6bn raised the previous year.

Swedfund has provided €20m in funding to COFINA to support job creation, business growth and better livelihoods in West and Central Africa.

The facility seeks to improve trade liquidity within Africa, especially for women and youth-run businesses, building on Absa’s extensive network of financial services operations across the continent. 

The loans to boost financial inclusion and the hydropower sector represent the first direct investments in the Himalayan country by the two Nordic development finance institutions.

Although progress has been made in the past ten years, financial inclusion remains challenging across the whole of the African continent.

Accion and Nuveen are among backers for FlexiLoans, which is helping to support millions of India’s small businesses currently excluded from the mainstream financial system.