Rob Mills

Rob Mills is an Executive Director who co-leads Social Finance International’s team on strategy, business development, income generation, and staff growth and performance. Rob focuses on improving access to basic services for low-income households, including energy, water, sanitationm and clean cooking. He advises donors, foundations, social investors and private enterprises on using innovative finance and market-based approaches to deliver better social outcomes.

Articles by Rob Mills

Guest Articles

Thursday
April 16
2026

John Scicchitano / Rob Mills

The Missing Ingredient in Impact Investment in Africa: A New Financing Model for Business Advisory Service Providers Tackles the ’Lack of Investable Pipeline’ Challenge

Despite the growth of impact investing in Africa, investors still face a commonly cited constraint that could impede future deal flow: the lack of investable pipeline. But according to John Scicchitano at Pangea Africa and Rob Mills at Social Finance International, the main reason for this issue is the fact that African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often struggle to meet the technical standards that impact investors demand, while lacking the network that could connect them to these investors. They explore how business advisory service providers (BASPs) can help meet these needs for SMEs, and present a new financing mechanism that can help BASPs scale up their investment facilitation support.

Categories
Investing

Tags
business development, business education, impact investing, MSMEs

NextBillion - A WDI Publication

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Rob Mills

Articles by Rob Mills

The Missing Ingredient in Impact Investment in Africa: A New Financing Model for Business Advisory Service Providers Tackles the ’Lack of Investable Pipeline’ Challenge