We are constantly improving and renewing our products and services. We have co-developed innovative impact evaluations that are affordable and effective. We launched a new fund to promote and support innovation in developing countries. We successfully approved our first Innovation Fund loans for entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid. And we reinforced our equity team in a period of actual consolidation.
Triple Jump re-invests a portion of its earnings, through Triple Jump Advisory Services, into technical assistance projects for its investees, with the objective of contributing to a solid, social, and innovative microfinance sector. Since its start in 2006, Triple Jump Advisory Services has executed over 150 projects in 29 countries, with tailored services in collaboration with partners such as Oxfam Novib, the Dutch development bank FMO and institutions like the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group.
Our expertise focus on three main topics: product and channel development; risk management; and social performance management. The core of our work consists of providing hands on advisory services to financial service providers, although we have also done a great deal of work on reaching out to the ‘missing middle.’ We have been supporting institutions in upscaling their services to small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, we have supported some partners in strengthening the foundations for risk management, as well as focusing on building up integrated risk management for other partners.
In 2013, we launched Triple Jump Innovation Fund BV, to promote and support innovation in developing countries. Apart from being fund manager, we are also responsible for investor relations and the whole set-up of the fund. The goal of this fund is to further access to finance for under-served communities and people around the world, thereby improving quality of life for people at the bottom of the pyramid. Our belief is that innovation is necessary in order for institutions to develop appropriate products, services and logistics to advance access to finance.
More specifically, the Innovation Fund invests in financial service providers that offer rural and agricultural finance, operate in difficult coutnries and/or offer innovative products and services that have a direct positive impact on living conditions for our end-clients.
Furthermore, the Innovation Fund works closely with Triple Jump Advisory Services to improve financial sector development. As many of the targeted financial service providers are in a developmental stage, they will largely benefit from technical assistance.
In 2012, along with Habitat for Humanity International, we launched the MicroBuild Fund. We firmly believe that housing microfinance can empower those living in poverty to provide themselves with adequate shelter. Currently, very few financial service providers offer specialized housing loans, and consequently there is far more demand than supply in the current market. To address this specific need, the MicroBuild Fund was jointly established as a source of long-term social investment capital and technical assistance for financial service providers, to expand their housing microfinance portfolios.
In 2016, the invested fund size grew 20% from USD 42 M to USD 50 m, with a total of 34 financial service providers in 22 countries. Among the 34 FSPs that the MicroBuild Fund invests in, five of these investees are new fund partners. Outreach has expanded to three new countries: Colombia, Kosovo and the Dominican Republic. Each investment was supported with a comprehensive technical assistance package provided by Habitat for Humanity’s Centre for Innovation in Shelter and Finance.
In 2016, MicroBuild Fund joined six other OPIC investees in receiving the 2016 Impact Awards, winning the Access to Finance award. MicroBuild is the first housing- or shelter-related OPIC Impact Award.
Triple Jump has been offering equity actively since 2006, through the ASN-Novib Microcredit Fund, and it is one of the key instruments we offer to assist our partners in their development. This allows us to be more active in building strong financial institutions, for the benefit of the entrepreneurs we ultimately serve. When considering potential investments, Triple Jump looks in particular at shared vision, values and a mutual trust in order to create a strong shareholdership.
Triple Jump is a long-term value investor. The majority of the assets we manage are open-ended, allowing us to be patient and work with our partners on their medium and long-term strategies. We look at the financial service provider’s inherent potential to grow and incorporate more micro-entrepreneurs into the financial system.
