UNCDF is inviting eligible organizations to respond to this call for Expression of Interest with their growth-related capital needs to assess the potential for UNCDF to offer its investment instruments or investment through its partner funds.
Organizations are requested to express interest and provide information about their financial needs and status (revenue, profit/loss, etc.) and its development impact (number of customers, etc.) in order to be assessed for potential funding.
In 2019, UNCDF launched its strategy “Leaving no one behind in the digital era” based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific to drive the development of digital economies, riding the rails of digital finance, in LDCs. The UNCDF vision under the strategy is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. This Expression of Interest calls for eligible organizations to submit required information to be assessed for potential funding that meets the vision under the strategy.
Objective
This ‘call for expression of interest’ serves as a market scan to build the pipeline of potential investments for UNCDF under its digital strategy. Organizations that offer a digitally-enabled product or service, or that can leverage such product or service to improve efficiency, organizational performance and customer outreach, that drive digital inclusion of women, youth, MSMEs, smallholder farmers and/or migrants in the Financial inclusion and digital innovation, Green economy & clean energy, Agriculture, food processing, food security & nutrition, or Telecommunications, infrastructure & last mile connectivity sectors are invited to submit.
Areas
UNCDF investments fall into two categories of available financing:
- Concessional lending and guarantees – debt and guarantee investments in the range between $100,000 and $1,000,000, available in local currency. Debt is offered on concessional terms including interest rate, tenor and collateral requirements.
- Semi-commercial lending and equity investments – debt and equity investments of between $250,000 to $2,500,000, available in local currency.
Suitable investment will depend on the financial needs and risk/return profile of the organization as well as funding availability.
The investments will come together with a technical assistance facility component with tailored technical assistance as required.
UNCDF will utilize the submitted information to assess potential investments of loans and guarantees from its own balance sheet as well as debt and equity investments from its third-party managed funds on an on-going basis depending on funding availability.
UNCD is inviting entities to register their interest in order to be included in our list of prospects to be assessed for potential funding.This Expression of Interest does not entail any commitment on the part of UNCDF, either financial or otherwise.