WASHINGTON — A year ago FinDev Canada consisted of Managing Director Paul Lamontagne and one other employee, working out of a WeWork in Montreal. But the Canadian development finance institution recently marked its first birthday in a proper office with about 15 staff.
FinDev spent the year in startup mode, working to build Canada’s capacity to work directly with the private sector for the first time. It has learned from others, created a development impact framework, and made its first two investments. FinDev Canada is an independently governed subsidiary of Export Development Canada, with Global Affairs Canada as its shareholder. Much of its initial work involved figuring out how to coordinate with its parent agency to share services to remain lean, and with its shareholder to advance Canada’s feminist international assistance policy.
In an interview with Devex, Lamontagne said FinDev Canada aims to be an impact-led “DFI of the future,” defined by six key factors: clear core alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals; an impact-first orientation; an innovative culture that embraces technology, digital, data and is able to fail; being a risk taker by investing in least developed countries; scaling quickly through partnerships; and mobilizing private capital.