OUR EVOLUTION

GBF began as an initiative of the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank Group). From 2004 to 2007 Grassroots Business Initiative executed over 40 social investments and technical assistance projects that impacted the lives of over 3.4 million people.

2004

2008

GBF became an independent non-profit with seed funding from the Calvert Foundation, FMO, IFC, OeEB-Development Bank of Austria, Omidyar Network and others (see complete list of investors on pg. 23), to continue investing in — and assisting with the capacity building of — businesses that generate economic and social impact for low income communities.

2011

GBF evolved further with the establishment of a $49 million for-profit private investment fund to work in tandem with the donor-funded non-profit. The non-profit acts as the fund manager and a capacity building partner for the fund and its investees. The fund’s performance is visible to all stakeholders and investors, who expect to be repaid with a return.

2021+

A future priority of GBF will be to focus on piloting new financial programs:

  1. Agricultural Finance: Work with various companies who seek to offer medium-long term finance to their small-holder farmers.

  2. Innovative Financing: Connect SMEs in very early stages of growth to the right inputs they need to take off.

  3. Metrics: Increase our understanding of the impact portfolio companies have, distill lessons learned and discern gender impact.