NMI News
NMI Commits EUR 3 Million to Support Rural Poor with Investment in Rural Impulse Fund II
OSLO, NORWAY – 8 June 2010: MI Global Fund today announced an investment of EUR 3 million in the newly established Rural impulse Fund (RIF II). RIF II will invest exclusively in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) with a high rural presence and will have a balanced global portfolio focused on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The rural poor represent about three-quarters of the world’s poor population.
RIF II has received initial capital commitments of over EUR 86 million and hopes to reach EUR 120 million by June 2011. The Rural Impulse Fund II follows the achievements of the Rural Impulse Fund I, the world's first microfinance facility to specialize in commercially viable rural microfinance institutions. Rural Impulse Fund I made investments with 24 MFIs across 18 countries with a customer base of 1.5 million clients.
"There is substantial unmet demand for rural area financing," said Richard Weingarten, Managing Director of NMI. "Rural MFIs in which RIF II will invest will contain significant amounts of agricultural lending. Agriculture is a leading economic sector in developing countries; it is a main exporter and major employer, especially for women. As a result, it is expected that RIF II will have significant development impact."
NMI is a founding investor in RIF II. Other founding investors include The European Investment Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, The German Development Bank (KfW), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), Microfinanza 1, ACV-CSC Metea, VDK spaarbank, Germany's Bank fuer Kirche und Caritas, and others.
RIF II will be managed by Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM), which has its head office in Antwerp, Belgium, and offices in Colombia and India. Incofin IM has 180 million EUR assets under management, with investments in 70 MFIs in more than 30 countries on 4 continents. These 70 MFIs reach more than 4 million micro-entrepreneurs.
NMI Contact:
Njord Andrewes
Telephone: +47 22 36 22 40
E-mail: info@nmimicro.no
Website: www.nmimicro.no