Publications and Reports

 We are pleased to present the Grassroots Business Fund’s (GBF) Press release

GBF Injects $350,000 Funding into Rainbow Haulage Tanzania
● The investment will also ensure that Rainbow achieves and maintains high margins through
optimized supply and demand of its products to the satisfaction of its customers.
● This investment in Rainbow continues the GBF’s signature approach of blending structured
mezzanine finance, with business advisory services.
● The working capital will allow Rainbow to navigate challenges brought on by the Covid-19 health
crisis.

 We are pleased to present the Grassroots Business Fund’s (GBF) Press release

GBF Spins Off Latin America Team, Strengthens Africa Operations.

-Andes Impact Partners (AIP) will continue to monitor existing GBF investments in Latin America.

-Andes Plus Fund I (APF-I), managed by AIP, will provide growth financing to Small and Medium Enterprises in Peru and Colombia.

-GBF operations continue globally with an emphasis on Africa with operating offices in Nairobi and Washington, DC.

 We are pleased to present the Grassroots Business Fund’s (GBF) Annual
report for Financial Year 2018!

This year completes 10 years since our spinoff from the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Group Bank.
During this decade, we have evolved, improved on many fronts, and made a meaningful and sustainable difference in the lives of over 5,720,000 low-income people in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

For the upcoming year, we will continue to raise funds for our Kenya based Finance Company: GROW and our Peru based Fund: Andes Plus Fund I. GBF is excited to continue serving underserved communities and providing individuals the opportunity to reach their potential for economic growth and sustainability.

We are pleased to present GBF’s Annual Report for Financial Year 2017. Since beginning in 2004 as a department within the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Grassroots Business Fund has learned and changed a great deal over the past 13 years.

Now having evolved in key areas, we are a seasoned company of efficient, targeted impact investment professionals with local offices and staff on the ground near our portfolio companies, still approaching issues with youthful energy and creativity. Through our trials and tribulations, however, we learned to tackle the issues we face in a much more efficient manner. Through efficiency, we are able to focus more on our mission, clients and social impact than on administration.

GBF has invested in more than 40 companies, the vast majority of which have succeeded or are succeeding. After working with us, each of these companies has received follow-on investments from more traditional providers of financing, including banks and Development Finance Institutions. Our Business Advisory Services (BAS), sometimes provided even before investment, has been recognized by portfolio companies’ leaders as invaluable for their businesses’ growth

This year we have committed investments to two more companies: SOKO in Kenya and Phoenix Foods in Peru. SOKO is an innovative artisanal company that connects low income artisans throughout Kenya into their supply chain through technology. Not only does this empower the artisans to work on their own terms, but provides for a very quick turnaround from product creation to the consumer. Phoenix Foods buys fresh fruits and vegetables from smallholder and medium farmers for processing and sale in export and local consumption. Phoenix differentiates itself by purchasing products from different regions of Peru to mitigate climate and supply risks.

Through our evolution, we have learned a number of lessons, including the need to narrow our geographic and industrial scope to focus on what we do best.

We are excited to continue to grow in our mission to generate sustainable earnings and savings for people in developing countries

Having begun in November 2011, this winter marks the 5 year anniversary of GBI-I, GBF’s first investment fund. In celebrating this milestone, we look back upon the past half-decade and observe our successes, our failures, and how we have evolved along the way. Five years ago GBF was a predominantly United States-based operation that prided itself on effective market-based solutions to poverty across the globe. We approached these problems a bit differently than others in the field. Now, having evolved in key areas, we are a seasoned company of impact investment professionals with local offices and staff on the ground in our target markets, still approaching issues with youthful energy and creativity.

GBF has invested in more than 50 companies, the vast majority of which have succeeded or are succeeding. After working with us these companies have received follow-on investments from more traditional forms of financing, including banks and Development Finance Institutions. Our Business Advisory Services (BAS), sometimes provided even before investment has been recognized by portfolio companies’ leaders as invaluable toward their businesses’ growth. We have advanced significantly in this decentralization—including the budget, processes, people and resources. Our local offices in the field are now leading on key parts of our business. We have narrowed our geographic focus, tightening from working in Latin America, Africa, India and Indonesia to only Africa and Latin America’s Andean region. We have focused on mostly agribusiness companies, finding that they are consistently some of our most successful companies in both financial and social returns. We have incorporated the minds of seasoned local consultants and business people in our investment and supervision process. Lastly, we have been on the forefront of innovations in utilizing blended capital to invest in traditionally under-financed businesses.

We are immensely proud of the steps we have taken and the progress achieved. We are excited to continue to grow in our mission to generate sustainable earnings and savings for people in emerging markets.

Three years into our $49 million private investment fund, we have expanded GBF’s portfolio with investments in Paraguay, Indonesia and Tanzania. Our Business Advisory Services (BAS) are taking shape, and we think there is a clear link between our capacity building efforts and positive company performance. We have also been improving our operations in order to increase our results and our impact.

Some of GBF’s key results this fiscal year include:

• $7.6M disbursed to High Impact Businesses and an additional $11M committed.

• 7.3% current yield on outstanding portfolio over the past 12 months.  All payments due have been collected (principal, interest, dividends and vendor payments).

• $48.2M of economic value delivered in the past 12 months by GBF’s investees, benefiting 9.2M direct and indirect beneficiaries.

We are pleased to present our first Impact Report–a first attempt to demonstrate GBF’s progress, what we are learning, and what we can say about our impact so far.

Our main goal at this stage is to estimate the impact we and our investees are having, rather than provide a definitive assessment of our results:

Some of GBF’s key impact results this fiscal year include:

• $35.5M generated in social benefits by our investees.

• 1.3M people with low incomes are directly supported by our investees.

• $113.6M generated in total client revenues.

Two years into our $49 million private investment fund, GBF has made substantial progress in building and maintaining a well performing portfolio.  Our investments are already generating substantial social impact, and while they are still in their early stages, the investments appear to be yielding reasonable prospects for financial returns for our investors.

Some of GBF’s key results this fiscal year include:

• GBF’s investees delivered around $37.6M of economic value to 1.4M direct beneficiaries.

• $26M in direct benefits reached over 60,000 artisans, farmers, entrepreneurs and employees through direct income or payments.

• An additional $11.2M reached 1.3M people living in low income communities through products and services.

With the help from an outstanding staff and a first-class group of stakeholders and advisors, we are closing a $47,000,000 private investment fund and have raised an additional $12,000,000 in grants from donors to benefit the non-profit arm of GBF. In recent months, GBF has made substantial progress in building and maintaining a well performing fund that is generating social impact and a financial return for our investors.

Some of GBF’s key results to date are as follows:

• $14M committed to 16 portfolio companies.

• 1.4M people have access more affordable and better quality goods, services, and jobs, and our investments and BAS are directly impacting 46,000 artisans, farmers, employees, and entrepreneurs.

En español

As our Annual Report describes in more detail, GBF has now invested more than $8.5M in 32 High Impact Businesses across 12 countries.

These investments have helped to build and scale High Impact Businesses that have directly impacted over 1.6M people, as well as an additional 7.1M family members.

With our headquarters in Washington, DC and teams on the ground in Ghana, India, Kenya and Peru, we are looking forward to building new partnerships with leading corporations, investors, donors, and colleagues.

Read our 2011 Semi-Annual Update

As the report describes in more detail, GBF’s clients have moved markedly toward commercial sustainability and delivered over $15 million in value to more than 4.5 million people at the base of the pyramid – reflecting the success and further potential of GBF’s blended approach.

Some of GBF’s key results to date are as follows:

 • US $7M invested in 26 businesses across 10 countries.

 • Over 4.5M people reached at the base of the pyramid.

 • Almost 850,000 people directly impacted.

Read our 2010 Semi-Annual Update

We are pleased to announce The Grassroots Business Fund’s first Annual Report, which summarizes the achievements we’ve made in just one year.

The report sets out our progress in building an organization that can help deliver well-defined, high-impact approaches to social and economic development in the world’s poorest communities. 

We hope that you find this document thought-provoking and useful.