AFI’s performance in FY2020

mmateen
16. December 2020
General

We are pleased to share with you our impact report for FY2020. In the one year since we were greenlit to provide investment management services, we have advised Invest in Visions GmbH on over 14 transactions and built a portfolio of USD 132 mn, as depicted in the chart. In FY 2020 alone, we have enabled disbursement of USD 99 mn globally. We also facilitated 6 syndication transactions with EBRD and IFC – International Finance Corporation. Even our SDG rating tool, AFISAR©, formed an integral element of the investment decision on all the transactions, thanks to Juliane & Manuela.

A big shout out to our team, whose hard work, passion and persistence has led to such fruitful results; and IIV, for their unending faith and support.

We are now ready for dreaming big and achieving bigger results in FY2021 with our trusted Risk team of Harsh (South East Asia) and Gennadiy (Eastern Europe), our Investment Officers, Dr. Andrij and Memona (Central Asia & Europe) and our legal counsel, Shreya, all steered by by our amazing Debt Investments Director, Andrii.

We have also begun exploring investment opportunities in LATAM and South East Asia with our new Agents, Javier Eduardo and Siddharth.

This is just the beginning for AFI & we eagerly look forward to what the future will bring!

Tags: sdg8

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement (both adopted in 2015) as well as the European Green Deal call for a deep transformation towards an inclusive, socially just, carbon-neutral and regenerative economy.

The UN estimates that annually $2.5 trillion need to be mobilised to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And yet, the COVID-19 pandemic creates a massive setback in the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Amidst the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic, financing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) remains an important vehicle to stimulate growth and socio-economic development. Among other effects, the COVID-19 crisis has caused a slowdown in microfinance activities and thereby threatens the financial inclusion of low-income populations. In this context, Impact Investing can significantly contribute to the solution of societal issues. In response to the effects of pandemic, at Agents for Impact we focus on exploring new opportunities and identifying strategic partners around the globe to support local entrepreneurship, encourage women empowerment and contribute to sustainable development.

The 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) estimates the impact investing market to cover USD 715 billion. In fact, globally more and more investors are shifting their capital into impact investing, i.e. investments pursuing not only a financial return, but also a positive environmental and/or social impact. Evidence-based impact measurement is not only of the core characteristics of impact investing, but also serves as a starting point for impact management. Yet, due to its multidimensionality and complexity impact measurement poses a challenge to investors and investees.

As impact investors have to demonstrate the social and/or environmental impact of their investments (especially financial institutions subject to the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, SFDR), they also need an enhanced sustainability measurement, which is clear, reliable, quantifiable & comparable. Consequently, the financial sector is increasingly seeking data and evidence from their investees. In order to source funding from international impact-oriented investors, investees (such as microfinance institutions/MFIs) are well advised to provide evidence regarding their sustainability performance. Besides a roadmap towards a more prosperous and sustainable world by 2030, the SDGs are also offering a positive, common language advocating for social and environmental issues. This is where impact measurement comes into play to assess the status quo and pave the way to create even more positive impact.

As mentioned above, further capital needs to be mobilised to address the prevalent global challenges (such as climate change, persisting inequalities and a sustainable COVID-19 recovery) and finance the SDGs. In order to further strengthen the German Impact Investing ecosystem, we joined the Federal (German) Initiative Impact Investing (https://bundesinitiative-impact-investing.de/) as member and are co-leading its initiative “Impact Measurement & Management” (together with PHINEO) as a platform for impact practitioners to facilitate discussions about impact measurement approaches as enabler towards an impact-oriented economy and exchange of best practices.

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