The eco.business Fund Development Facility for Latin America and the Caribbean has published a special report to mark its 5th anniversary.
The report describes the milestones achived by the facility over the past 5 years and tells the story of a sustainable transformation of the financial sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Read the full report.
Operating alongside the fund’s investment activities are the eco.business Development Facility for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Development Facility for sub-Saharan Africa. Both Facilities work to maximize and deepen the impact of the fund in their respective regions. They support financial partner institutions, companies and producers through a broad array of tailored technical assistance projects designed to promote the adoption of sustainable business practices. These projects range from improving environmental and social risk management capacities within local financial institutions, providing training sessions on sustainable production practices for producers, supporting corporates in sustainable sourcing strategies to conducting feasibility studies for sustainable tree nurseries as well as country markets and deforestation assessments studies.
Through these technical assistance projects, the Development Facilities support the fund’s target groups with the knowledge and tools needed to implement sustainable business practices that protect biodiversity, ensure the responsible use of natural resources, and help mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. In this way, companies, partner institutions, and their clients can expect to see improvements in their overall productivity and sustainability.
In addition, the Development Facilities also create and support knowledge-sharing platforms, stakeholder dialogues and sector initiatives, where relevant ecosystem players such as investors, government agencies, producers, financial institutions, local associations, NGOs and industry leaders convene to jointly create solutions that promote a green economy.
If you would like to learn more about the fund’s Development Facility in Latin America and the Caribbean, you may find more information in the Pitchbook. A similar pitchbook for the sub-Saharan Africa Development Facility will be available, soon.
For general terms and conditions of the Facility, click here.
The Development Facilities work hand-in-hand with the sub-funds, its investees, and other players in the green finance sphere to pursue the eco.business Fund’s mission.
The Development Facilities are managed by Finance in Motion, the Advisor to the eco.business Fund.
The Development Facility for Latin America boasts a track record of completed and ongoing projects which reflect its mission and scope of activities:
Climate change presents a major risk to the global economy and requires system-wide changes, including in the financial sector. Financial institutions increasingly understand the risks and opportunities imposed by climate change.
The financial sector has enormous potential in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in promoting sustainability in the economy.
One of the eco.business Fund’s pillar mission is to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impact. Greenhouse gas emissions, and particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), are key drivers of climate change.
The demand for products and services offered by financial institutions (FIs) that are in line with global environmental and social demands is increasing.
The Development Facility has helped design sustainable cattle portfolios for Banco Lafise in Nicaragua, Global Bank and Multibank in Panama, and Bancolombia in Colombia, by implementing technological tools...
Sustainable tourism is one of the four focus sectors of the eco.business Fund, but, in contrast to the other three, it has received limited attention in the past. This started to change in 2020 with a market study on sustainable tourism standards initiated by the Development Facility
With the objective of encouraging and aiding producers in their journey towards sustainability, the Development Facility partnered with the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 2020 to design a web-based self-assessment tool for end-borrowers and the general public
The approved Aquaculture Green List, used to identify eligible clients and companies for financing by the fund, is comprised of six measures for production and one measure for processing....
Faced with the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the Development Facility embraced its role as an agent of change by launching a COVID-19 response package project in July of 2020 for eight of its Partner Institutions
In 2020, the Development Facility promoted the expansion of Nicaragua’s sustainable coffee frontier through a project with a coffee association (ASOCAFENS), whose members are mostly clients from Banco Lafise.
In 2019, the Development Facility co-sponsored part of the “De Mi Tierra” program in Honduras in association with Ficohsa, one of the Fund’s PIs, designed to provide seven family farmers in rural areas with greater access to finance and technical training
In 2020, the eco.business Development Facility began working with and supporting a Nicaraguan initiative, “Zero-Deforestation Cattle Ranching” ..
Joint Events and Conference Participation project was created in 2017 with the objective to comply the mission of the eco.business Development Facility (DF) in positioning...
The eco.business Sustainability Academy offers practical and theoretical workshops for financial institutions and their clients alike...
Starting in 2017, Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMS) have been designed, implemented, and/or improved for eleven partner institutions...
The eco.business Fund Development Facility, in partnership with the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School..
The objective of this project was to build the impact monitoring and evaluation framework for the eco.business Fund. For this purpose, a set of indicators were identified...
The Development Facility has helped design sustainable cattle portfolios for Banco Lafise in Nicaragua, and Global Bank and Multibank in Panama, by implementing..
For more information on these and other projects, please visit our subpage News.
Please also have a look at a summary of our projects in Latin America from 2017-2020.
The Development Facility for sub-Saharan Africa already has a track record of completed and ongoing projects which reflect its mission and scope of activities:
John Stone Sang is a maize and dairy farmer in Molo. From June 2021 he has been working with the HiFarm project team, together with his wife and another worker. The farm is benefiting from the advisory of the HiFarm soil experts as well as from two Agropilots.
Joyce Chepkoril is a maize farmer in Rongai and was introduced to the project via a friend in June 2021. She grows maize and beans as the main crops. She and her two daughters make a living from the farm.
Paul Rono is a rainfed farm owner with 18 acres, of which 5.5 acres are now used to grow maize. Planting is done in March. Upon harvesting he hires people from the community to help. The maize is sold in the local markets and used for cattle as well.
All figures as of June 2024, based on eco.business Fund activities in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa
Individual Technical Assistance: This type of cooperation aims to enable Partner Institutions to promote and apply sustainable business and consumption practices through access to finance. Indicative activities include assistance in: product implementation, portfolio screening of potential investees, implementation of credit assessment technologies of sustainable businesses and staff training, among others.
Financial Sector Support: This type of cooperation is focused on developing sector partners, such as financial sector institutions (like central banks, banking associations), business sector institutions (e.g. business associations, cooperatives, incubators) as well as enabling actors such as technology developers or multi-stakeholder platforms. The aim is broadly to foster the development of an enabling and sustainable business environment.
Research and Development Projects: The DF facilitates market studies as well as the development and pilot-testing of new tools, products and instruments of the fund, such as guarantees, local currency lending instruments and bonds. The DF also finances country studies that are required for the expansion of the Sub-Fund to new countries and that support impact and evaluation exercises where applicable. Finally, the DF supports the development of concepts and strategies that support the Fund’s mission overall.
All figures (%) as of June 2024 based on eco.business Fund activities in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa
In the endeavor to amplify the fund’s impact, the Development Facilities provide different types of technical assistance to the fund’s partners and end borrowers while simultaneously strengthening its four priority sectors. The technical assistance offered by the facilities directly respond to stakeholder needs. It can range from implementing Environmental and Social Management Systems to event sponsorship and financing for training and research opportunities.
Donors to the eco.business Fund either sponsor one or both sub-funds.
