3 mins in development finance/ wk50 (December 8–14)
6 min readDec 23, 2020
My weekly reading list for those interested in development finance and Impact investing focused on developing countries.
IFC and WorldBank
- (19/11/20) Q&A: Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC — “Environmental Finance”
- (-/12/20) e-Conomy Africa 2020 — Africa’s $180 Billion Internet Economy Future “IFC”
- (-/12/20) En Route to Investment- “IFC”
- (-/12/20) Women and Ride-hailing in Sri Lanka — “IFC”
- (-/12/20) Episode 04: When challenges meet tech solutions in Africa — Featuring SweepSouth’s Aisha Pandor — “IFC”
- (03/12/20) Video Africa Talks Tech: Bucking Expectations to Build a Start-up — “IFC”
- (08/12/20) IFC & Kobo360 Invite Innovative Cooling Solution Projects for Nigeria’s Food, Health, and other Industries- “IFC”
- (09/12/20) IFC provides US$50 million loan to Produbanco to support economic recovery in Ecuador -”IFC”
- (10/12/20) IFC, DAVR-BANK Boost Lending to MSMEs and Women-Owned Businesses in Uzbekistan — “IFC”
- (11/12/20) New Trade Information Portal a Boost for Trade in Mongolia Amid COVID-19 — “IFC”
- (11/12/20) NDC enhancement and COVID-19 recovery — “WorldBank”
- (12/12/20)IFC and IDB Invest share system to help Latin American financial institutions measure climate impact — “IFC”
- (14/12/20) IFC and LOGOS Partner to Develop Green Logistics Hub, Drive Economic Activity in Indonesia — “IFC”
Asian Development Bank
- (08/12/20) ADB Approves $500 Million Loan to Expand Metro Rail Network in Bengaluru-”ADB”
- (08/12/20) ADB Project to Improve Primary Health Care in India -”ADB”
- (09/12/20) $500 Million ADB Loan to Expand Financial Inclusion in Indonesia -”ADB”
- (09/12/20) ADB Appoints Bruce Gosper as New Vice-President — “ADB”
- (10/12/20) Developing Asia to Contract 0.4% in 2020, Grow by 6.8% in 2021- “ADB”
EBRD
- (08/12/20) Wider use of carbon markets to boost net-zero future — EBRD paper — “EBRD”
- (10/12/20) Pharmacy in Kazakhstan increases efficiency- “EBRD”
- (10/12/20) EBRD and TAQA Arabia promote private-to-private renewable energy in Egypt — “EBRD”
- (10/12/20) EBRD lends Ankara bus company €57.1 million to renew bus fleet — “EBRD”
- (10/12/20) EBRD and EU provide support to Ukrainian businesses via OTP Leasing — “EBRD”
- (10/12/20) EBRD joins efforts to support coal transition in Western Balkans, Ukraine — “EBRD”
- (11/12/20) EBRD supports Turkmen tomato producer Agromar — “EBRD”
- (11/12/20) EBRD and EU help Ukrainian internet provider grow — “EBRD”
- (14/12/20) EBRD project delivers tools for distance learning in Tangier — “EBRD”
- (14/12/20) EBRD signs up to Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles — “EBRD”
- (14/12/20) EBRD, EU and bilateral donors finance better infrastructure in Western Balkans — “EBRD”
- (14/12/20) EBRD and OECD to strengthen cooperation — “EBRD”
CDC
- (08/12/20) The Africa List Business Barometer 2020 — “CDC”
- (10/12/20) Investing in nature’s assets: The case for mangroves as a nature-based climate solution — “CDC”
- (11/12/20) Driving social change in India: how tech entrepreneurship holds the key — “CDC”
- (11/12/20) VIDEO — CDC Insight event: Tackling the global climate crisis in a just and inclusive way — “CDC”
EIB
- (06/11/20) EDFI and EIB launch EUR 280 million financing initiative to support Covid-19 impacted business — “EDFI”
- (09/12/20) Ukraine: The EIB invests €640 million to improve infrastructure resilience, public transport and road connections- “EIB”
- (10/12/20) EIB celebrates female entrepreneurship — One World Media Awards kicks off-”EIB”
- (10/12/20) Netherlands: ING and EIB Group come to the aid of SMEs and Mid-Caps during COVID-19 — “EIB”
- (10/12/20) EIB joins Rockefeller Foundation’s call to action to provide sustainable energy for one billion people by 2030 — “EIB”
- (11/12/20) Montenegro: EIB and Podgorička banka (OTP Group) sign €20 million loan to accelerate post-COVID recovery of SMEs and mid-caps- “EIB”
- (11/12/20) Chad: Société Générale Chad and EIB provide credit line of nearly CFAF 6.5 billion for the development of SMEs — “EIB”
- (14/12/20) Cambodia: EIB supports improvement of water supply and irrigation infrastructure in rural Cambodia with €80 million -”EIB”
DFC
NorFund
FinnFund
Proparco
- (08/12/20) Proparco and the Asian Development Bank strengthen their partnership to support India’s renewable energy development — “Proparco”
- (09/12/20) In Honduras, PROPARCO is supporting Banco Ficohsa, a bank committed to women’s entrepreneurship and SMEs — “Proparco”
- (10/12/20) Proparco and BICIS strengthen their partnership to support Senegalese MSMEs -”Proparco”
- (14/12/20) AFD Group reiterates its support for microfinance by renewing a €10M guarantee to the Foundation — “Proparco”
Misc content in Development Finance
- (24/09/20) Humans destroyed an ecosystem the size of Mexico in just 13 years — “WEF”
- (29/10/20) The State of Blended Finance 2020 — “Convergence”
- (12/11/20) Sir Ronald Cohen: “The VC industry has to wake up” — “Sifted”
- (20/11/20) Risk-Return-Impact: The New Driving Force — “Impact Revolution”
- (24/11/20) Indonesia’s Sovereign Request Fund — “The Diplomat”
- (-/12/20) OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Belgium 2020 — “OECD”
- (-/12/20) U.S. Impact Investing Alliance Publishes New Report on ‘Private Capital, Public Good’ With Bipartisan Call to Action — “Impact Investing Alliance”
- (-/12/20) Rebuild Better | Gender — “Business Fights Poverty”
- (03/12/20) A Kingdom of sand — “Globe”
- (04/12/20) Sustainable investing is in vogue among wealthy Asians — “Yahoo Finance”
- (08/12/20) Oxford Saïd announces collaboration to develop AI principles for private sector — “Oxford”
- (09/12/20) Green & Social Bond Principles launch new guidelines on climate transition finance — “ICMA”
- (10/12/20) Education funding, philanthropy and COVID-19: what next? “Global Partnership”
- (11/12/20) 35% of World Bank’s 2020–25 financing will go to climate- “Ecofin Agency”
- (11/12/20) Financing India: Netherlands can offer more; knock at the right door — “Free Press Journal”
- (11/12/20) As a leader in development finance, China can help create a green, inclusive recovery- “South China Morning Post”
Misc content on Technology and other areas of interest
- (30/11/20) Q&A: Challenges and opportunities with digital youth participation — “Fondation Botnar”
- (-/12/20) The Big Ideas Fintech Will Tackle in 2021 — “Andreesen Horowitz”
- (-/12/20) A Tactical Guide to Managing Up: 30 Tips from the Smartest People We Know — “First Round Review”
- (01/12/20) Companies, business groups and investors call on UK Prime Minister to deliver strong Paris Agreement pledge — “Corporate Leaders”
- (03/12/20) Fintechs See Increased Growth as Firms Adapt to COVID-19 — “WEF”
- (11/11/20) Singapore’s Ascent Capital raises $88m for debut Myanmar-focused fund — “Tech In Asia”
- (18/11/20) VIDEO Africa’s Clean Energy Transition: Scaling Up Local Action — “Global Wind Energy Council”
- (08/12/20) Digital migration deadline slips to 2023 — “Tech Central”
- (11/12/20) Deep tech to drive digital economy in Singapore post-Covid-19 world — “Straits Times”
- (11/12/20) Record $25 billion for research and innovation over next 5 years to secure Singapore’s future — “Straits Times”
- (13/12/20) India’s pace of AI adoption surpasses developed economies amid Covid-19 — “Business Standard”
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- (02/11/20) Tech imperative: Looking beyond ESG investing to reinvent the future — “The Economist”
- (08/11/20) Schroders launches impact fund to aid Covid-hit emerging markets — “Financial Times”
- (11/12/20) Southeast Asia’s newest impact investor is Japan’s Credit Saison — “Nikkei Asia”
- (12/11/20) Frogs and princes- “The Economist”
- (14/11/20) Better disposable coffee cups — “The Economist”
- (14/11/20) Does value investing still work? — “The Economist”
- (14/11/20) Why self-help books are so popular in China — “The Economist”
- (29/11/20) Ditch Vietnam coal-fired plant, investors tell Mitsubishi and banks- “Nikkei Asia”
- (19/11/20) The Food Industry Is Leaning Into Sustainability — But Consumers Still Want More — “The Nature Conservancy”
- (23/11/20) Can a Computer Devise a Theory of Everything? — “NY Times”
- (30/11/20) The Grit and Glory of Dolly Parton — “The New York Times”
- (-/12/20) New Delhi’s toxic air exacerbates coronavirus threat- “Financial Times”
- (01/12/20) Reinventing Workers for the Post-Covid Economy — “NY Times”
- (02/12/20) The dawn of digital medicine — “The Economist”
- (05/12/20) Asia at risk of losing annual $8.5tn from climate change — “Nikkei Asia”
- (05/12/20) A device called Nemo will shed light on small-scale fisherfolk — “The Economist”
- (05/12/20) Swiss multinationals narrowly avoid new ethics standards — “The Economist”
- (10/12/202) Climate leaders protest against lack of women at high levels in UN summit — “Financial Times”
If you have suggestions for articles that should be featured in future lists, please drop me a note and follow on LinkedIN.
