Finnfund invests in ADP III to foster growth and development of African businesses

Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor, today announce a USD26 million commitment to African Development Partners III (ADP III), a pan-African private equity fund aiming to foster the growth and development of African consumer focused businesses across the continent. Contributing to the value creation within its investees, ADP III aims to support established […]

April 14, 2021

Creadev, Finnfund and Imaginable Futures support SPARK Schools in its mission to revolutionize Africa K-12 education

By 2030, more than 300 million young people will enter the job market across Sub-Saharan Africa. A high-performing primary and secondary learning system unlocking the doors of university will be critical to educate and train the many. Yet most of K-12 institutions across the continent still perform poorly, plagued by overcrowded classrooms, scarcity of qualified […]

February 4, 2021

Phatisa Food Fund 2 reaches $143 million final close from DFI commitments

CDC Group, Norfund, Finnfund, FinDev Canada and BIO jointly commit $82 million to Phatisa’s second food fund Sub-Saharan African fund aims to create over 2,000 jobs in food and agriculture The investment aims to increase agricultural output by 3m tonnes A group of leading development finance institutions (DFIs) and impact investors – CDC Group, Norfund, […]

Finnfund increases funding to Starsight, a leading C&I solar player in West Africa

Starsight, the leading Commercial and Industrial (“C&I”) solar power provider in West Africa, is delighted to announce that Finnfund and Norfund have increased their senior debt facility from 10 million USD to 20 million USD. The new funding will enable Starsight to continue to deliver its market leading energy-as-a-service hybrid solar solutions to C&I customers […]

January 14, 2021

COVID-19 underlines the need for accessible healthcare

Markus Pentikäinen

I was invited as one of the panelists to attend a webinar about healthcare investments in Africa. The main question there was how the ongoing pandemic has reshaped the healthcare investment landscape.  Some things may have changed during this very exceptional year but in my opinion, most things have not. We are a long-term impact […]

December 1, 2020

Finnfund to participate a European financing package to support COVID-19 impacted businesses

Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor, invests EUR 10 million in a financing scheme of eleven members of EDFI, the Association of European Development Finance Institutions, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to reduce negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on economy and employment in developing countries. The financing package of EUR 280 […]

November 9, 2020

Oh sustainability, how I hate (and love) you!

Päivi Lehtonen

Oh sustainability, how I hate you! But only on the days when I look at the world and feel despondent and think that we should be accomplishing so much more. We should achieve better and more visible results to improve the state of the environment. And don’t get me started on social responsibility and equality. […]

October 22, 2020

Finnfund provides US$10 million loan to First National Bank Ghana to strengthen capacity in Ghanaian financial sector

Finnfund, a Finnish development finance company and impact investor, has provided a US$ 10 million senior loan to First National Bank Ghana Ltd. One of the key objectives of Finnfund’s investment is to support the Ghanaian financial sector and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and in particular, foster affordable housing in the […]

August 17, 2020

Finnfund Insights analyzes the impacts of the COVID-19 on markets and businesses 

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented shock to the world economy. New Finnfund Insights discusses some of the main channels through which businesses in the developing world feel the impact from pandemic. “As a development finance institution, we have good visibility to how businesses in emerging and developing markets are affected,” said Minna Kuusisto, Finnfund’s Economist.  “While many newspapers are covering the immediate impacts the […]

July 3, 2020

Mobile career boost – what we learned from the Bidi Bidi refugee camp

Jussi Hinkkanen

Did you know that 375 million African youths will become of working-age within the next 15 years according to the United Nations? Simultaneously, the size of the working-age population in Africa will reach 1.1 billion by 2035, surpassing that of China and India. By 2050, up to one third of all young people in the […]