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The Missing Asset Class: How Aggregated MSMEs Could Unlock the Next Wave of Impact Investing Deal Flow
Despite years of emphasizing the need to reach underserved businesses, the impact investing sector is increasingly focusing on lower-risk opportunities. According to Adanna Chukwuma at CARE, mature companies have drawn the largest increases in impact assets over the past six years, while funding to seed-stage enterprises has contracted — despite multiple financial instruments designed to serve the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in this segment. As she explains, this trend excludes a vast band of businesses with real revenue, real demand and real growth potential: aggregated MSMEs, i.e., individual enterprises that have joined together to contract and borrow as one. She explores the investment opportunity in these MSMEs, and calls for the creation of a new asset class around them, explaining how this could unlock the flow of impact capital to enterprises that remain systemically overlooked.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
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African Development Fund Grants $4.3 Million to Strengthen Integration of Natural Capital Into Decision-Making in 13 African Countries
The strategy aims to strengthen policy-making systems, statistical systems, institutional frameworks, and knowledge-generation mechanisms needed by the regional member countries participating in the project and the African Development Bank Group to assess natural capital and incorporate it into public policy-making.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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US to Invest $2.5 Billion in Southeast Asia, Including AI Initiative, $1.5 Billion in Energy
The U.S. Mission to ASEAN revealed the investment in a statement on Tuesday, as part of a special press briefing on the outcome of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM-59).
- Categories
- Investing, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- South Asia
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Joint Press Release: EU and Partners Sign the Global Green Bond Initiative Fund to Mobilise up to €20 Billion in Investments for Sustainable Infrastructure
At least 20% of investments will target the world's least developed countries, with support for bonds in both local currency and euro.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Region
- Global
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Press Release: Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance Invest More Than US $100 Million to Expand Electricity in Africa
Since The Rockefeller Foundation and the Alliance first announced their initial US$10 million commitment, their collective support has grown to more than US$100 million for Mission 300 in 23 countries to date.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: Rockefeller Foundation to Expand Mission 300 Fellowship Program to at Least 18 African Countries
The Rockefeller Foundation with the Mission 300 Accelerator and the nonprofit Energy Corps are providing additional support to CoAction Global to develop a cohort of “Clean Cooking Fellows” to strengthen institutional capacity to develop investable projects within countries’ CDMUs.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Pyramidia Ventures Secures US $1.5 Million to Scale Agri-Tech Startups and Address Food Security Challenges in Africa
This latest funding round includes US$1.3 million in capital from the Dutch impact investor Triple Jump, alongside US$200,000 in technical assistance and business development support from the Dutch Good Growth Fund.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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P4G Awards $3.8 Million to 14 Climate Startups Driving Green Innovation in Emerging Markets
This funding will help these early-stage businesses grow breakthrough solutions making them investment-ready to accelerate green growth in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Finance, Technology
- Region
- Global
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