AgRIF Coöperatief U.A.

Equity : June 2015

BIO has invested USD 7.5 M in equity in the AgRIF Coöperatief U.A., the Agriculture and Rural Impulse Fund, a multiregional debt and equity microfinance investment fund.

Amount

€ 5,438,332.50

Type of investment

Equity

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Financial inclusion
Food security & rural development
Promotion of ESG best practices

Beneficiary locations

Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal

Asia: Cambodia, India, Mongolia, Myanmar

Latin America and Caribbean: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

Financial Institutions Fund

Organisation

AgRIF Coöperatief U.A.

Website

http://www.incofin.com/

Domicile

Netherlands

More investments in

AgRIF Coöperatief U.A.

Subsidy € 105,000.00 (2018-2023)

AgRIF (Agricultural and Rural Impulse Fund) is a multiregional debt and equity microfinance investment fund with a specific focus on agricultural and rural outreach. It will be managed by Incofin Investment Management, a Belgian-based microfinance investment company.

The fund will focus on enhancing financial inclusion of the rural population by investing in targeted MFI’s or banks in emerging countries. It will also specifically aim at improving financial inclusion of smallholder farmers, by targeting MFIs and financial institutions that have developed specific agriculture linked loan products and by dedicating a limited part of its strategy towards financing producer organisations and agriculture-focused companies.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Equity and debt microfinance investment fund with specific agri and rural focus; targeting MFI and FI with an average investment of 5 million; End clients will receive loans between USD 1,000 and 10,000.
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Mission of the fund is to bring finance to rural areas where access to credit is scarce.
Financial inclusion
Loans to agri or rural-focused financial intermediaries for an average of USD 2.5 million or to rural producer organisations or agricultural SMEs (10% of the fund)
Food security & rural development
The aim is to invest at least 60% of the portfolio in agriculture-focused institutions; other will be rural-focused;

The main goal of the investment is to provide smallholder farmers access to finance. This is done indirectly by investment in agri/rural-focused MFI's offering agri-products
Promotion of ESG best practices
Fund manager pays a lot of attention to Client Protection Principles (CPPs). If investee has weak CPP system in place, TA is often put in place to improve its implementation.

Made possible through this investment

Thanks to the direct funding from BIO, the following second-line investments have been made possible.

Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt Ltd

India, Myanmar

Established in 2004, Sohan Lal Commodity Management (popularly known as SLCM group) is a post‐harvest agri‐logistics company that offers a diversified range of products & services to the target segment‐ farmers, processors, millers, traders, etc., and provides a one‐stop solution from warehouse management to agri‐financing and collateral management. SLCM group has operations in India and Myanmar, and has four subsidiaries that specialize in businesses across agri‐value chain namely procurement, commodity warehousing, agrifinance & collateral management.

Save Solutions Pvt Ltd

India

SAVE is one of the Top 3 Banking Business Correspondent in India. The company reaches out to 18 million unbanked clients providing comprehensive banking transaction services through a network of over 8,500 Kiosks spread across 350 districts & 30 States in India with a dedicated focus on the rural areas.

SAVE has two fully-owned subsidiaries predominantly for the rural lending business. One of the subsidiary finance companies focusses on funding rural entrepreneurs and micro small and medium enterprises. The second subsidiary finance company provides microfinance loans to rural women in tier 2/3 locations.

Fairassets Technologies India Pvt Ltd

India

India’s first regulated NBFC‐P2P marketplace, Faircent provides a robust lending platform to its Indian borrowers and lenders. Innovative credit technology and analytics is the core competency of its business model that enables transparent and faster processing, driving a reduction in borrowing costs and offering attractive interest rates to both borrowers and lenders while challenging the status‐quo of the financial sector.

Rent2Own

Myanmar

Promoting rural employability and improvement of living standards through the provision of adequate, affordable and transparent renting services to low income population in Myanmar.

Fundeser

Nicaragua

Financiera Fundeser is a regulated financial institution (NBFI) operating in Nicaragua with 75% of its portfolio located in rural areas and 60% allocated to agriculture and cattle breeding. Financiera Fundeser is the spin-off of Fundación Fundeser and was launched by the NGO and 3 international institutional investors.

Light Microfinance Pvt Ltd

India

Light is a microfinance institution that provides micro-credit services to under‐privileged women in rural geographies via Joint Liability Group (JLG) Grameen model. It has branches across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

Light is focused towards its micro‐credit business and follows the Joint Liability Group (JLG) model for risk mitigation.