Microfinance Investment Funds Leveraging Private Capital for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction

Such contributions to local market building, combined with strengthening governance, increasing transparency and rigor make the new funds potentially very positive forces in microfinance.
Elisabeth Littlefield, Director and CEO, CGAP
Microfinance investment funds organised as mutual funds and structured finance products are bringing the vast resources of capital markets to the world of microfinance, which is about empowering poor people through provision of user-friendly financial services. These funds and structured products are superb means of producing a combination of financial and social returns. Individual and institutional investors are increasingly interested in the characteristics of microfinance loan portfolios. Progress in defining microfinance investments as an asset class is underway. In order to attract more commercial investors to microfinance, new financial instruments will have to be developed that satisfy commercial risk-return criteria while achieving the social benefits of microfinance activities.
Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Founder and Director, BlueOrchard Finance S.A.