More About Us

Central to SIF’s success is its goal of generating operating income from lending, sufficient to cover its operating expenses. While this may seem obvious, most social lenders operating in this space generate significant operating losses and are only able to remain in business due to the generosity of donors. While we intend to compete for grants and philanthropic support as well, we wish to do so only for start-up and specific programmatic purposes.

The promoters and founders of SIF have extensive experience with over 30 years in MSME development financing and have worked with nearly over 50,000+ MSMEs in Africa, Asia and Latin America over the last decade, unlocking tens of millions of capital for growth. The promoters have worked closely with funders, whether private donors, NGOs or governmental institutions, and are experienced both in identifying sources of funding and in partnering with these funders to help them achieve their impact goals. The team has first-hand experience in building and operating businesses designed specifically to identify and assess potential clients, to underwrite, disburse and collect loans, and to deliver technical assistance.

Building a business that can serve its borrower clients as well as assist its funders and investors achieve their goals, and to do so sustainably is not an easy task. It is even more difficult in sectors like agriculture and healthcare where business formation is largely informal and performance is cyclical and risky. Most commercial banks have been cautious in advancing credit to this sector due to the perceived and real risks, while social lenders are generally active only with larger borrower types and mostly with the least risky, shorter tenor lending. SIF is confident that meeting the financing needs of these MSMEs is achievable and, more importantly, that it must be done. SIF will combine the best practices of using an entirely local, on the ground work force of advisors, who will work directly with borrowers to evaluate loan requests, track progress, and deliver technical assistance. The back and middle offices will, however, be automated and digitized using the best available solutions that fintechs are now using globally and across Africa to underwrite and assess, disburse and collect, and manage data and loan portfolio.

While we will draw upon expertise globally for this important undertaking, we expect that the SIF team will be composed nearly entirely of African professionals with hands on experience and deep-seated knowledge on local MSMEs. The development finance and fintech communities in West Africa particularly Ghana is growing and thriving, and the essential element of SIF’s commitment to sustainability is to build, source, employ and train locally. We believe this is a key and important differentiator for SIF.