With the successful completion of its investment period, the Triple Jump Financial Inclusion Resilience Fund (FIRF) has reached a major milestone: the fund is now fully deployed, with assets performing in line with expectations and strong demand from financial institutions across emerging and frontier markets.
Launched during one of the most uncertain periods in recent history, FIRF was designed to strengthen the resilience of impact-focused financial institutions, enabling them to continue financing micro and small businesses when it mattered most.
The idea for FIRF emerged during the first Covid-19 lockdown. At the time, Orsi Farkas, Head of Funds & Equity at Triple Jump, was leading the firm’s Financial Institutions equity team and saw early warning signs across the sector.
“Without sufficient capital, microfinance institutions would not be able to finance the restart of their clients’ businesses once life returned to normal,” Orsi explains. “Most micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses in emerging markets have very limited savings to fall back on. Responsible lending is critical for their survival and growth, especially after a systemic shock like Covid-19.”
While an equity strategy was initially considered, post-pandemic market conditions made equity transactions complex and slow to execute. The team instead turned to a proven but underutilized instrument: subordinated debt.
“Triple Jump had more than ten years of experience providing subordinated debt across multiple countries,” says Orsi. “What FIRF brought was focus and scale, a dedicated fund designed to deliver capital quickly, when institutions needed it most.”
FIRF targets a critical gap in frontier markets: the “missing middle” of finance. As Portfolio Manager Mahrokh Humayun explains, while senior debt is often available, it does little to help institutions meet regulatory capital requirements.
“By providing subordinated debt that qualifies as Tier II capital, we strengthen an institution’s capital base,” Mahrokh says. “This ‘quasi-equity’ enables them to leverage our investment, attract additional senior funding, and scale their lending to MSMEs, the backbone of job creation in these economies.”
This catalytic effect sits at the heart of FIRF’s strategy. For every dollar invested, the fund enables financial institutions to expand their balance sheets well beyond the initial capital provided.
With the investment period now completed, the fund has demonstrated strong market demand for subordinated debt across emerging markets. FIRF’s capital is currently supporting financial institutions in 16 countries, financing more than 80,000 micro and small businesses and leveraging approximately five times the amount invested in additional senior debt.
Beyond scale, portfolio quality has remained strong. Returns in this segment are driven by a liquidity premium and deep regulatory expertise, rather than correlation with developed market credit cycles. By structuring flexible, long-term instruments that qualify as Tier II capital, FIRF has been able to achieve attractive, resilient yields.
At the same time, FIRF’s investees are undergoing a structural transformation. “We’re seeing a rapid digitization of MSME finance,” Mahrokh notes. “Institutions are moving from paper-heavy processes to data-driven lending, reducing costs and improving credit quality, all the while keeping returns for the segment attractive. This also improves affordability for the end clients”
While financial performance is important, FIRF measures success through what the team calls the Growth Multiplier.
“For every USD 1 million of subordinated debt we provide, we track how many additional millions in MSME loans the institution is able to issue,” Mahrokh explains. “We are especially focused on financial inclusion, so first-time business borrowers, women-led enterprises, and rural entrepreneurs gaining access to credit.”
Risk management has been central to the fund’s design. FIRF combines bottom-up institutional analysis with top-down country diversification, focusing on Tier 1 and Tier 2 local players with strong governance, dominant market positions, and high recovery rates.
Looking back, Mahrokh sees opportunities to refine the strategy further. “In future funds, a more dynamic approach to FX risk management could add value, particularly in frontier markets where traditional hedging tools are often illiquid or expensive.”
From a concept born during crisis to a fully deployed fund with strong outreach and portfolio performance, FIRF demonstrates the role that tailored capital solutions can play in strengthening financial systems and livelihoods when they are most vulnerable.
With the investment period completed and assets performing well, the FIRF team remains eager to build on this momentum and continue supporting inclusive growth across frontier and emerging markets.
