3 mins in Development Finance/ wk 15

My weekly reading list for those interested in development finance and Impact investing focused on developing countries.

IFC and World Bank

• (-.04.22) REPORT: South Asia Economic Focus, Spring 2022 | Reshaping Norms: A New Way Forward | The World Bank
• (12.04.22) IFC Invests in Green Housing to help Vietnam Meet Demand while Cutting Emissions | IFC
• (13.04.22) IFC, IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, and IFC Emerging Asia Fund Invest in Voyager Innovations to Expand Digital Financial Services in the Philippines | IFC
• (13.04.22) MULTIMEDIA: Toward a More Prosperous and Sustainable Pacific Ocean | The World Bank
• (14.04.22) PUBLICATION: Trade Facilitation and Gender Dimensions in South Africa | The World Bank

IFC / Norfund

• (12.04.22) GHANA: Norfund and IFU invest $27.9 million in CBI's low carbon cement | Afrik 21

IFC / IMF

• (11.04.22) World Bank and IMF Have It Wrong on Climate Change | Foreign Policy

IMF

• (13.04.22) VIDEO: Fast-Moving FinTech Poses Challenge for Regulators | IMF Blog

ADB

• (12.04.22) ADB offers $2 million loan to support urban development projects in Nagaland | ThePrint
• (12.04.22) Axis Bank lands ADB financing to support sustainable supply chains in India | Global Trade Review
• (12.04.22) Solar-Powered Radios, Tablets, Wi-Fi Sets to Enable Distance Learning in Remote Schools in Philippines | Asian Development Bank
• (13.04.22) ADB Launches First Blue Bond Incubator to Boost Ocean Investment | Asian Development Bank
• (14.04.22) Fight for Survival: Indonesia’s Hard-Hit Small Informal Firms Struggle to Outlast the Pandemic | Asia Pathways
• (16.04.22) Conference on green economy and food security held at CAREC Institute | Dunya News

AfDB

• (11.04.22) ADF donates $5.5m for Eastern Sahel Desert to Power initiative | ESI Africa
• (12.04.22) African Development Bank, African Union sign protocol of agreement for the African Union Institution Capacity Building Project | African Development Bank
• (14.04.22) AfDB hails Zim's gender policies | The Zimbabwe Independent
• (14.04.22) Cameroon makes its forest investment plan more gender-sensitive | Business in Cameroon
• (15.04.22) African Development Bank Group to launch new trust fund for the circular economy | African Development Bank

AIIB

• (14.04.22) AIIB's investment portfolio in Egypt exceeds $1B | EgyptToday

BIO / FMO (Dutch Development Bank) / IFC / Swedfund/ Norfund

• (14.04.22) African Rivers Fund III reaches hard cap at $85m | Africa Global Funds

British International Investment (CDC Group)

• (11.04.22) Climate finance and the transition to net zero | British International Investment
• (13.04.22) PUBLICATION: Evaluating the Impact of BII’s Infrastructure Portfolio: Our high-level response | British International Investment
• (13.04.22) Four key themes from the Global Private Capital Conference | British International Investment

FMO Entrepreneurial Development Bank / PROPARCO

• (12.04.22) FMO and Proparco Support Pakistani Electricity Provider K-Electric with USD 100 mln Loan | FMO

Finnfund

• (15.04.22) Finnfund invests in Valency International to foster sustainable cashew production in C?te d’Ivoire | Finnfund
• (17.04.22) Finnfund Equity stake in TPL Insurance | Pakistan Observer

Norfund

• (11.04.22) Norfund invests $7.5m in Continental Blue Investments to create jobs, reduce emissions in Ghana | Africa Business Communities

Swedfund

• (11.04.22) Additional investment private sector growth in DRC, Uganda and Angola | African Business CommCommunities

Misc Content in Development Finance

• (10.04.22) How data scientists can create a more inclusive financial services landscape | VentureBeat
• (10.04.22) Harvard Endowment’s Debate Shows Private Equity’s China Struggle | BNN Bloomberg
• (11.04.22) Resilience brings opportunity to private equity market | Investment Monitor
• (12.04.22) What role can business schools play in developing tomorrow’s impact investors? | Times of India
• (14.04.22) The Great Emerging Markets Debate Grows More Fraught | BNN Bloomberg
• (14.04.22) How embedded finance can drive Nigeria’s financial inclusion | Business Day
• (15.04.22) Why a Yield Curve Inversion Might Actually Be Good News for Investors | Barron's
• (15.04.22) ANALYSIS: What licensing Momo Bank means for Nigeria's financial inclusion, economy | Premium Times Nigeria
• (15.04.22) African Stocks: Investing in the Last Great Emerging Market | Nasdaq
• (17.04.22) Digital banking is the in-thing -- but it excludes many users in Tanzania and Senegal | The Conversation

Misc Technology

• (12.04.22) Fintech Voyager raises $210 mln to become 2nd Philippine 'unicorn' | Reuters
• (13.04.22) VIDEO: Financial Inclusion In Nigeria: Leveraging Fintech For Economic Growth | YouTube
• (14.04.22) The rise of NFT impact investing | Investment Monitor
• (15.04.22) PODCAST: ‘The Ultimatum’ and social fintech have more in common than you’d think | TechCrunch
• (15.04.22) 'Ekovention to bring visibility Nigerian start-ups need to gain traction' | Times
• (17.04.22) JPIN Study Shows 43% of Investors want Green Technology | FinTech Magazine

Misc Gender

• (14.04.22) Gender Pay Gap: Women Shouldn’t Have to Take a Class to Close Salary Disparity | Bloomberg
• (14.04.22) Women entrepreneurs continue to face bias - #SMELink2022 | The Standard

Misc Sustainability

• (11.04.22) Why sustainable investing is important | MoneySense
• (11.04.22) Monitoring global development aid with machine learning | Nature Sustainability
• (13.04.22) Yes, Investing in ESG Pays Off | Harvard Business Review
• (13.04.22) Blog: Ways to de-risk Climate Finance | CPI
• (14.04.2) PODCAST: Setting the Standards for Green Investors | Investopedia
• (14.04.22) Energy transition central to Africa’s economic future | The Point

Upcoming Webinars

• 2022: Social enterprise and impact investing events in 2022 | The Social Enterprise Magazine | Pioneers Post
• November 9-11, 2022: FinTech LIVE 2022

Upcoming Conferences

• 28-29 April, 2022, London, UK: Impact Investing World Forum 2022 - ESG Investing Conference - UN Social Sustainable ESG Funds Events Investor
• May 23-27. 2022, 2022 Annual Meetings from in Accra, Ghana | African Development Bank
• June 21-24 , 2022, Brussels: Africa Energy Forum 2022 - Africa for Africa: Building Energy in the Just Transition

If you have suggestions for articles that should be featured in future lists, please drop me a note and follow me on LinkedIn.