WE TARGET BUSINESSES
– WHERE POSITIVE SOCIAL IMPACT FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES IS A RESULT OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS AND WHICH…
– OPERATE IN FOOD SYSTEMS AND AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS AS WELL AS FINANCIAL AND DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
– HAVE BUSINESS MODELS THAT INTEGRATE LOW-INCOME POPULATIONS AND/OR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT ARE TARGETED UNDERSERVED GROUPS
– PROVIDE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE CLIMATE-SMART, GENDER-SMART, AND (ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY) SUSTAINABLE
– ARE RUN BY LOCAL AND/OR WOMEN FOUNDERS WITH A CLEAR COMMITMENT TO ADDRESSING REAL NEEDS OF THE UNDERSERVED
– ARE IN EARLY- TO MID-STAGES WITH PROVEN IMPACT AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY THAT ARE IN THE PROCESS OF SCALING THEIR BUSINESS MODEL
– ARE IN KENYA, UGANDA, RWANDA, TANZANIA, ETHIOPIA AND MALAWI
– OPERATE IN FOOD SYSTEMS AND AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS AS WELL AS FINANCIAL AND DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
– HAVE BUSINESS MODELS THAT INTEGRATE LOW-INCOME POPULATIONS AND/OR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT ARE TARGETED UNDERSERVED GROUPS
– PROVIDE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE CLIMATE-SMART, GENDER-SMART, AND (ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY) SUSTAINABLE
– ARE RUN BY LOCAL AND/OR WOMEN FOUNDERS WITH A CLEAR COMMITMENT TO ADDRESSING REAL NEEDS OF THE UNDERSERVED
– ARE IN EARLY- TO MID-STAGES WITH PROVEN IMPACT AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY THAT ARE IN THE PROCESS OF SCALING THEIR BUSINESS MODEL
– ARE IN KENYA, UGANDA, RWANDA, TANZANIA, ETHIOPIA AND MALAWI
OUR CONVICTION
is that financially viable businesses, led by dedicated social entrepreneurs, play a crucial role in achieving sustained impact at scale
OUR MISSION
is to capitalize local SMEs with economically viable and scalable solutions contributing to improved livelihoods and climate change adaptation and resilience for underserved population groups (the bottom 40% of the income pyramid and women, in particular)
WE PROVIDE
PATIENT AND FLEXIBLE CAPITAL WITH TICKET SIZES BETWEEN USD 100K AND 2M IN EQUITY, EQUITY-LIKE INSTRUMENTS, DEBT, IMPACT-LINKED FINANCE, AND HYBRID INSTRUMENTS
WE ADD VALUE
by providing more than capital to prepare portfolio companies for further investments and exits.
NIF supports portfolio companies with structured and ad hoc technical and strategic assistance on areas ranging from governance and management structures to impact measurement and management, as well as establishing partnerships and accessing additional funding from NIF’s network of impact investors in the Nordics and beyond
OUR CONVICTION
is that financially viable businesses, led by dedicated social entrepreneurs, play a crucial role in achieving sustained impact at scale
OUR MISSION
is to capitalize local SMEs with economically viable and scalable solutions contributing to improved livelihoods and climate change adaptation and resilience for underserved population groups (the bottom 40% of the income pyramid and women, in particular)
WE PROVIDE
PATIENT AND FLEXIBLE CAPITAL WITH TICKET SIZES BETWEEN USD 100K AND 2M IN EQUITY, EQUITY-LIKE INSTRUMENTS, DEBT, IMPACT-LINKED FINANCE, AND HYBRID INSTRUMENTS
WE add value
by providing more than capital to prepare portfolio companies for further investments and exits.
NIF supports portfolio companies with structured and ad hoc technical and strategic assistance on areas ranging from governance and management structures to impact measurement and management, as well as establishing partnerships and accessing additional funding from NIF’s network of impact investors in the Nordics and beyond
NORDIC IMPACT Funds
East Africa countries we invest in – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Malawi
OUR PORTFOLIO
ChapChap – Uganda
Digitizing MSMEs and extending financial services to last-mile clients.
Digitizing micro-enterprises with a simple accounting system and giving them access to different financial services based on data and trust scores. ChapChap agents can offer bill payments, mobile money and airtime to their customers to expand their business and qualify for unsecured loans based on data.
ChapChap has an agent network of approximately 43K microenterprises that has extended financial services to +5.7M clients.
Grekkon – Kenya
Providing affordable (solar-) irrigation products to smallholder farmers
Grekkon is helping small holder farmers irrigate their farms and build climate resilience. They establish boreholes, provide solar water pumps, pipes, drip irrigation and sprinklers, dam liners for rainwater harvesting, green houses and solar dryers, while at the same time advising the farmers in good agricultural practices.
Grekkon has provided irrigation products to around 50K farmers of which 85% are smallholder farmers and 75% women.
Jamii.one – Ethiopia
Digitizing community savings groups and facilitating access to insurance.
Digitizing community-based groups with a free accounting tool for their financials to build their track records and document the collective trust of the groups. This data allows people in the community-based groups to access cheaper financial services such as insurance and loans.
Jamii.one has digitally registered 950K users and facilitated insurance for 100K of those.
KK Foods – Uganda
Taking small holder farmers’ produce to export markets
KK Foods is training smallholder farmers in quality standards for horticultural exports to Europe and securing a steady off-take of their produce. KK Foods is facilitating all logistics with inputs, cold chain, pack house and transport and is also doing value addition to extend shelf life and reduce food waste.
KK Foods sources from a network of approximately 1K farmers of which 48% are youth and 68% are smallholder farmers.
REXIAL – Uganda
Streamlining payment processes by automating direct debit payments
REXIAL helps people to save and pay their utility bills and school fees automatically. REXIAL has developed a direct debit exchange that allows customers to automate any recurring payments through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network.
REXIAL is currently operating in a sandbox and has partnered with some of the leading financial service providers in Uganda.
Taimba – Kenya
Simplified and digitized farm to market model
A digitized farm to market model – reducing food waste across the value chain and providing better prices for farmers as well as traders. Taimba connects small holder farmers directly to small traders and facilitate the logistics with cold chain, pack house and transport.
Taimba sources from more than 2.5K smallholder farmers and services more than 1K small food retailers of which 84% are low-income.
XENO – Uganda
Savings and investment platform targeted low-income clients
A mobile savings platform democratizing access to professional investment management and helping people build financial resilience. It allows customers to save as little as USD 3 and have it invested in a combination of money markets, government bonds and regional stocks to earn a solid return of 10-15% on their savings.
+40K users opened an account with Xeno in 2023 and over 77K of XENO’s users have reported improved purchasing power after using their services.
