The Fund is expected to provide subordinated funding to 15-20 Financial Intermediaries in emerging markets, thereby catalysing between USD 250 million and 400 million in senior debt which will be on-lent to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, with a focus on women.
The fund is complaint with the 2X Gender criteria. By supporting this post-Covid recovery phase, FIRF offers a timely solution responding to market demand.
Orsolya Farkas, Equity Manager at Triple Jump: ‘The Financial Inclusion sector has a strong track record of resilience, and quickly moved to successfully manage the liquidity crisis triggered by Covid-19. However, in the aftermath of the pandemic, solvency challenges have emerged, delaying recovery and hindering the growth of lending to MSMEs. We saw an unmet capital need in the market, and FIRF has been created in order to deploy subordinated debt quickly and at scale to strengthen the capital buffers of Financial Intermediaries, allowing them to respond to the financing needs of their clients.