BIO was incorporated by the law of 3 November 2001, published in the "Moniteur Belge" (Belgian Official Journal) of 17 November 2001, at the initiative of the Minister for Development Cooperation. BIO is a private company whose capital is held by the Belgian State (Ministry for Development Cooperation) and SBI/BMI (Société Belge d’Investissement International S.A. – Belgian Corporation for International Investment) each holding 50%. Its early stage capital amounts to € 5.000.000 and it makes investments using additional equity granted by the Ministry for Development Cooperation in the form of profit shares with voting rights.

Initially, BIO financed regional or local intermediary structures (banks, investment funds, etc.) with a vocation to support SMEs and microfinance institutions. These indirect investments thus allowed BIO to limits its risks and to benefit from the experience of more mature institutions. It then broadened its mission with the creation of the SME Fund, a tool that aims to directly finance local SMEs. Today, BIO is the only Development Finance Institution in Europe to directly support small and medium sized enterprises, granting sums that are generally considered too small by most investment banks.

BIO invests by means of equity, quasi-equity and medium and long-term loans. It can also grant subsidies for feasibility studies and technical assistance programmes, as well as provide for guarantees.

BIO's interventions are built around three cornerstones:

1. Intermediary financial structures

BIO can support microfinance institutions, commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, SME and microfinance investment funds for amounts up to a maximum of 5% of BIO’s means per project. These operations can be executed in €, $ or local currency.

2. Enterprises

BIO can invest directly in local SMEs and larger corporations with a maximum amount of respectively € 1.000.000 and € 5.000.000 per project, in €, $ or local currency.

3. Capacity Building Fund

This Fund provides grants to co-finance feasibility studies, up to a maximum of 50% of their total cost. The maximum grant available is € 100.000 and these subsidies are non-refundable.

BIO can also provide subsidies for technical assistance programmes (training, technology transfer, etc.) upon request of its investee companies, to help them achieving their objectives.