The United Nations Capital Development Fund (‘UNCDF’) and Bamboo Capital Partners are launching a partnership to establish an investment vehicle that will support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (‘SDGs’) in the world’s poorest 47 nations, known as the Least Developed Countries (‘LDCs’). UNCDF has partnered with Bamboo to set up the pioneering investment vehicle, designed to attract concessional and commercial growth finance to UNCDF’s pipeline of small and mediumsized enterprises (‘SMEs), financial service providers, and local infrastructure projects.
The partnership will provide innovative, blended finance solutions and ensure the full spectrum of capital is available to SMEs and other ventures in the LDCs. Through the investment vehicle, the UNCDF and Bamboo aim to address the “missing middle” financing gap that affects entrepreneurs in frontier markets, where growth is constrained by a lack of access to follow-on financing.