Kinshasa, 26 September 2014 – Today the first General Assembly and meeting of the Board of Directors of FPM SA (Fonds pour l’inclusion financière en République Démocratique Congo) takes place in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). FPM SA (FPM), a new Fund for Financial Inclusion will support financial institutions targeting small and medium enterprises in DRC. This new financial instrument will complement “FPM ASBL” which has been operating in the DRC since 2007 and focuses on providing Technical Assistance (TA) to Congolese Finance Institutions. More than 50 TA-projects have been carried out so far.

As foreseen by the new Law on the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) of January 2014, a first management contract between BIO and the Belgian State was adopted and published in the Belgian Official Journal last April 2014. It details the missions, values, principles, main strategic pillars and methods for BIO’s interventions for 2014 - 2018. It also specifies BIO’s financing terms by the Belgian State and emphasises the importance of all actors of the Belgian Development Cooperation collaborating and using their complementarity to a maximum. This with the aim to create access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) and enterprises of the social economy in the countries of intervention.

Brussels, March 26th, 2014 – Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) has led an INR 300 Million (USD 5 Million) Series B investment in Annapurna Microfinance Pvt. Limited. Incofin IM’s Rural Impulse Fund II, an existing investor in the microfinance institution, also participated in this Series B round of investment.