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Shell Foundation and the UK Government Anchor Lendable Transportation and Energy Fund to Mobilise Private Capital for Climate and Gender Impact
Lendable is a technology-enabled investment firm that provides asset-backed credit to fast-growing businesses in emerging and frontier markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology, Transportation
- Region
- Global
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Is the World Bank to Blame for the Cambodian Microfinance Crisis?
For the past five years, Cambodia’s microfinance sector has been experiencing a major over-indebtedness crisis. And as inclusive finance consultant Daniel Rozas explains, despite multiple warnings that the sector was overheating, IFC, the World Bank’s private investment arm, poured fuel on the flames by investing in the largest and fastest-growing of the country's leading microfinance institutions. Making matters worse, after an investigation by IFC’s own ombudsman concluded that clients had been harmed due to its failure to monitor the social risks created by its investments, its board dismissed those findings. He explores how the industry went off the rails in Cambodia, and argues that IFC not only worsened the crisis, it helped undermine the sector’s own efforts to avert it.
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ADB Supports Asia and Pacific’s First Sovereign Nature-Linked Bond in Thailand
Proceeds from the 15-year bond, which was issued on 17 September and raised 25 billion baht (approximately $750 million), will support efforts to achieve two sustainability goals aligned with national priorities and international commitments.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- South Asia
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Proparco Invests US $20 Million in Frogfoot, Vox and Hypa to Expand Affordable Fibre Connectivity in South Africa
A key focus of the companies’ growth strategy is the expansion of fibre networks into lower-income and township communities.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa Go Green Invests in Senior Debt Facility of USD $18 Million in Cold Solutions Rwanda
CS Rwanda will combine cold storage with packhouse, handling and refrigerated logistics services, providing an integrated solution from handling through to distribution. The development also includes a planned 440 kW rooftop solar installation and will target an internationally recognised green-building certification.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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IFC, Affin Bank Extend US $400 Million Financing to Women-Owned Businesses, Enterprises
Under the partnership, Affin Bank will channel funding to eligible MSMEs to support productive investment, strengthen business competitiveness and promote more inclusive economic development.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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BII Welcomes First Close of BlueOrchard Climate Action Mobilisation Fund
A key objective of the fund’s design was to meet the regulatory requirements of life insurers, including those of UK insurers seeking Matching Adjustment 1eligible assets under Solvency UK, which sets out regulatory requirements for insurance firms and groups.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Global
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Reimagining the Digital Architecture of Global Development: How Big Tech Can Bring the Sector into the Modern Age
The global development sector has grown into a sprawling ecosystem, including powerful multilaterals and millions of community-level NGOs worldwide. In the process, as social innovation advisor Rajat Ray explains, it has repeatedly reinvented its tools and techniques to handle the growing scale and depth of its work. But he argues that the reductions in traditional aid, the growing strain of modern operational demands and the emergence of advanced technologies like AI have brought the sector to a defining inflection point. He explores how its legacy tools and processes are falling short, and calls for a complete reimagining of the digital architecture that underpins global development, driven by multilateral leaders and Big Tech.
- Categories
- Technology
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