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IFC and UK government invest in global facility to finance small businesses in the world's poorest countries.
IFC is making a $200 million investment in the new Global SME Finance Facility, the first global platform of its kind to blend donor funding with funding from international development institutions to expand lending to small businesses in emerging markets.
The United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), with an investment of $63 million, is the facility's first donor. The facility will support high-impact projects with higher risk profiles, such as in conflict-affected areas of Africa and South Asia, women-owned businesses, and those engaged in sustainable-energy and climate-change activities. It is expected to fund about 600,000 small businesses--a quarter of which will be women-owned--over its 10-year lifetime.
Lars Thunell, IFC executive vice president...