Public and private financial institutions and investors are pooling their resources to raise a new specialist microfinance fund called Rural Impulse II.
The European Investment Bank, International Finance Corp., Germany’s KfW Entwicklungsbank, the Belgian Investment Co. for Developing Countries or BIO and Netherlands Development Finance Co. (also known as FMO), along with a range of private investors, formally agreed to participate in the fund, with Incofin Investment Management as the fund advisor, according to a press release.
Rural Impulse II follows the success of its predecessor, the Rural Impulse Fund I, the first microfinance facility to focus on rural microfinance institutions. As such, eligible applicants must come from developing countries with at least 30 percent presence in rural areas.