FMO - Dutch entrepreneurial development bank

We're launching the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), a groundbreaking initiative aimed at supporting early-stage companies in #Ghana, #Nigeria, and #Tanzania that are driving impactful social and economic change: https://lnkd.in/emGkUFkb We're doing this through a partnership with Village Capital and Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) | Partner in Sustainable Development. With a total investment of USD 4 mln the AECF will help these businesses scale and create jobs, improve financial inclusion, and promote economic mobility. At FMO, our focus on #marketcreation aims to transform early-stage businesses into investment-ready companies, ultimately unlocking new growth opportunities and creating lasting impact by investing in the ecosystems that support these businesses. The partnership will test an innovative capital pathway approach, helping companies move from early revenue stages to achieving product-market fit and scale — empowering local ecosystems to be more resilient and self-sustaining. By investing in these high-impact ventures, we’re supporting youth and women entrepreneurs and contributing to stronger, more inclusive economies. We look forward to seeing the transformative results of this collaboration as we work to close the funding gap and fuel economic growth in these important markets. Read the full announcement here: https://lnkd.in/emGkUFkb

We recently released 2 guidelines aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and fairness of household energy carbon projects: https://lnkd.in/e9zwicZu These guidelines--developed with the support of the Building Prospect Fund we manage on behalf of the Dutch government and Climate Focus--provide insights and practical advice for project developers, investors, and local implementers.   In the Benefit Sharing Guidelines, we offer in-depth guidance on ensuring the fair distribution of benefits in household energy #carbon projects. The Stakeholder Engagement Guidelines (included below) outlines principles and practical steps for engaging with local stakeholders in household energy carbon projects. It emphasizes the importance of clear, honest, and culturally appropriate communication, and provides a checklist for verifying the quality of stakeholder engagement These guidelines are essential resources for promoting responsible and transparent carbon projects that deliver tangible benefits to local communities. We're committed to supporting sustainable development and ensuring that the voices of all stakeholders are heard and respected, and look forward to continuing the conversation on these important topics. Access the Stakeholder Engagement Guidelines through the PDF below, or click here to read both on our website: https://lnkd.in/e9zwicZu Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this project, including Ruben Walker, Neera van der Geest, Molly Brown, Jeroen Blum, and Stephanie Zayed. Africa Clean Energy Group Inc. FairClimateFund | Certified B Corp BIX Capital Sistema.bio Climate Focus Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) Darragh Conway

This past week, we celebrated #InternationalWomensDay, so we're spending the time on and around this day for extra reflection on these topics as we aim to #AccelerateAction to drive gender equality and parity. A core focus of our mandate is reducing inequalities, which we can do through gender lens investing, for example through our NASIRA program. Funded by the EU and Dutch government, this guarantee program supports young, female, migrant and COVID-19 affected entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa and countries neighboring Europe. One client we've supported through this program is NMB Bank in Tanzania. They play an important role in in contributing to financial inclusion by serving the #MSME segment that has difficulties in getting loans from financial institutions, due to often having a higher risk profile/limited access to collateral. We recently paid them a visit to see what their support looks like in action; watch the video below to learn more about how we support investments that commit to the financial inclusion of women.

We’ve just published the first phase of an evaluation on Invest for Impact Nepal, one of our key #marketcreation initiatives: https://lnkd.in/ecqhHqyT   IIN focuses on ecosystem constraints supporting financial institutions and private equity funds. It aims to unlock a pipeline of DFI investments into the financial sector, part of our efforts to generate more bankable opportunities for impact investors to bridge the financing gap towards the SDGs. We commissioned URSUS to evaluate the uptake of #ESG standards in #Nepal, collaboration among DFIs and other partners, and changes experienced by IIN participants due to the program. So where do we stand so far?    The evaluation shows that Invest for Impact Nepal has indeed led to changes in attitudes towards sustainable financing amongst commercial banks, regulators, and DFIs, while more time is needed for IIN to reach its tipping point.     As such, some recommendations include continuing to work with private equity & venture capital firms to secure DFI investments, streamlining the technical assistance contracting process, and strengthening regulation that support DFI investments.    The recommendations were well-received by IIN and we look forward to further strengthening our market creation approach with our partners. Read the summary here, or through the PDF below: https://lnkd.in/ecqhHqyT   Many thanks to URSUS Consulting for conducting this evaluation which included more than 70 face-to-face and online interviews, 15 semi-structured interviews, baseline surveys, extensive desk research and a field trip.  

This past week, we celebrated #InternationalWomensDay. While our commitment at FMO is to always #AccelerateAction and work towards #genderequality and parity, we want to spend the time on and around International Women's Day for extra reflection on these topics. In our 2030 Strategy #PioneerDevelopScale, a key focus of #Develop is contributing to reducing inequalities, for example through #genderlensinvesting. But what exactly does it mean? And how does it contribute to the financial inclusion of women? Find out in our 90 second explainer video below. For example, we just signed a USD 15 mln investment in ASA International, one of the largest #microfinance institutions, in order to provide more on-lending to women micro-entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia--improving livelihoods and supporting the local economy through sustainable development. We remain committed to enabling the global support of women, while doing our part to commemorate, contribute, and celebrate their successes, while raising awareness and driving action on these important topics.

Today and over the next few days, we'll shedding light on how we can collectively #AccelerateAction towards gender equality. At FMO, our commitments to SDG 10 (reducing inequalities) and SDG 5 (gender equality) are deeply embedded in our strategy. We actively seek to support women across five key domains: as entrepreneurs, employees, project-affected persons, leaders, and end-users.   In 2024, we conducted a comprehensive gender evaluation to assess the impact of our investments across these domains. One of the case studies focused on an FMO investment via its MASSIF fund, in SAFCO Microfinance Company, which targeted women entrepreneurs. This investment shows FMO’s role in enabling the organization to expand and strengthen their gender approach.   SAFCO’s outcomes reaffirm the transformative power of gender-lens investing, not only as a driver of business impact but as a catalyst for improving the lives of women. Find out more how in the case study below. And if you're interested in reading more on this topic, stay tuned for the publication of FMO’s latest Gender Lens evaluation!

What was the state of agrifoodtech investment in 2024? Our #FMOVenturesProgram supported the AgFunder Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report, which dives into this topic: https://lnkd.in/dAhx6f8a Global investment reached $16 billion in 2024, slowing the industry’s freefall with a 4% year-over-year decline, and breaking the freefall seen in the last 3 years. Furthermore, agrifoodtech’s share of the global venture capital market remained around 5%. But what does the data look like per region or industry? Access the latest data on the agrifoodtech scene here: https://lnkd.in/dAhx6f8a #AgTech #FoodTech #VentureCapital

We're supporting female micro-entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia through an investment in one of the world's largest microfinance institutions, ASA International: https://lnkd.in/e8-JvzCw ASA International is a Dutch-based MFI that provides small, socially responsible loans to low-income entrepreneurs, most of whom are women. They're active across 13 countries, including Uganda, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Rwanda, with a proven track record of fostering financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Fatoumata Bouare, our CFOO, said, "We are impressed by ASAI’s operational performance and strong lending guidelines, which ensure that their clients borrow under the right conditions and can benefit their businesses, families, and communities. We look forward to this new chapter in our partnership." Read the full announcement here: https://lnkd.in/e8-JvzCw #ImpactInvesting #DevelopmentFinance

We've just released an invitation to tender for a NASIRA+ Project Management Officer: https://lnkd.in/esARJt-C   Are you an impact-oriented professional with an affinity for project management, public procurement and contributing to the SDGs? And do you have 10+ years of general professional experience in the field of project management, public procurement or related roles and wish to develop and broaden your professional track record whilst helping to create a better world? Come and support the implementation of Nasira+ with FMO. We established Nasira+ to stimulate financial intermediaries to lend to underserved entrepreneurs. Nasira+ is a risk sharing program in the form of structured portfolio guarantees, contributing to climate action, reducing inequalities, and gender equality. Nasira+ does that by providing financial intermediaries with credit protection to support underserved entrepreneurs they would usually consider too risky. These entrepreneurs include young, female, migrant entrepreneurs, #MSMEs located in rural areas and operating in agricultural value chains, MSMEs in LDCs, fragile states and EU Priority Countries as well as MSMEs and retail end-beneficiaries who are looking for green solutions. Access the tender here: https://lnkd.in/esARJt-C #GlobalGateway #TeamEurope

We're supporting private sector growth in #Tanzania through our latest investment in our long-standing partner I&M Bank (T) Limited. I&M Tanzania is a subsidiary of I&M Group, a leading financial services group active across Eastern Africa. Both the group and subsidiary have a strong focus on supporting the #SME sector, in addition to offering a full range of corporate and retail banking services. To drive growth in the Tanzanian sector, we signed a USD 10 mln loan facility with I&M Bank to support corporate and SME customers, the backbone of the Tanzanian economy. We're honored to have once again reaffirmed our support in I&M Tanzania, and look forward to our continued partnership as we jointly invest in the local economy. #ImpactInvesting #DevelopmentFinance Faith Kathambi Oshiro Sebogiso,