by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Partner with Agents for Impact, and We’ll Drive Impact Together!

This article is sponsored by Agents for Impact (AFI). We invite you to learn more about the firm via LinkedIn.

Andrij Fetsun, Founder & CEO at AFI:
AFI celebrated five years in bus­iness in October this year, and my team has attained several impact­ful goals during this challenging time. This would not have been possible without the im­mense support of our clients: the Ger­man impact-driven microfinance fund Invest in Visions, which has accumu­lated a volume of around EUR 1 billion with a major focus on micro­finance; HANSA­INVEST, which is based in Hamburg; and the crowdfunding platform Lendahand. Among the services we provide these clients is to perform plausibility checks of their funds’ ESG reports.

As the founder of AFI, I would like to highlight the culture we have built with our dedicated team that has come to­gether during these five years from dif­ferent parts of the world. I believe that corporate culture is crucial for every com­pany, especially for startups. Initially, we had trouble attracting Agents since we were not a well-established name in the industry or able to pay high salaries from the outset. Therefore, I focused on what truly makes for a great workplace

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Inclusivity in Capital Markets Demands Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability reporting entails assessing, dis­closing and managing an organization’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts. This prac­tice communi­cates to investors, custo­mers, employ­ees and regulators that the organization is com­mit­ted to sustainability. The dis­closure element, in particular, con­veys values, strategies, risks, oppor­tunities, account­ability and trans­par­ency.

The significance of sustain­ability re­port­ing within capital markets is increasing steadily, as more investors

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Agents for Impact – We Make Positive Impact Investable!

Founded in 2018, Agents for Impact (AFI) celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. This represents five years of continuous commitment to our mission, which is to build bridges between impact investors and fi­nancial services providers in developing markets across the world. Sustainability is central to our vision. We aim to create more investment opportunities by mea­suring risks (Risk), rendering impact measurable and comparable (Rating), and making sustainability and financial inclusion understandable for investors (Research).

To acknowledge our jubilee, we kick off 2023 by looking back at our achievements and bringing some of our milestones to your attention. Since its inception, AFI has provided investment advice and recommendations on around USD 285 million in impact in­vesting transactions. So far, we have done business in 16 coun­tries across the globe, facilitating debt financing to 32 financial institutions (including one more since the December 2022 figures shown in the graph below!) – each of which was ana­lyzed and selec­ted according to strict standards of sustainability, alignment with a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Agents for Impact: Well-equipped for Future Business Development

Agents for Impact GmbH (AFI), which acts as an intermediary be­tween investors and the world of impact investing, successfully has won FS Invest Holding as an investor. With an eye on the long-term, as of August 2022, FS Invest took a 75-percent stake in our consulting bou­tique, which is focused on sustain­ability, impact investing and financial inclusion.

FS Invest is part of the Helmig family’s group of companies, which is already active in sev­eral other holdings in the financial sector, in­cluding through its ATON Group.

“We are pleased to have an experienced investor at our side that will carry Agents for Impact into the future and enable us to expand our business,” says Dr Andrij Fetsun, AFI’s CEO (pictured).

About AFI

AFI was founded in 2018 by Dr Fetsun and Ms Edda Schröder with the purpose of: (1) increasing impact investments in emerging and developing markets by building bridges between impact investors and the world of impact investing in order to enable financial inclu­sion for under­served populations across the world; and (2) contri­buting to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of the firm’s proprietary SDG rating system, the Agents for Impact Sustainability Alignment Rating (AFISAR©) Tool.

AFISAR© helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) leverage the growing importance of strong sus­tainability performance vis-à?vis international investors, particularly im­pact investors. The rating tool analyses an MFI’s operations (at both the institu­tional and portfolio levels) based on a compre­hensive set of

by Zach Deluca -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agents for Impact Loans $3m from Invest in Visions to Imon International for Microfinance in Tajikistan

Two German impact investment firms, Agents for Impact (AFI) and Invest in Visions (IIV) recently collaborated to disburse USD 3 million in loan funds to Imon International, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Tajikistan. Imon offers individuals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises loans, savings, internet banking and

by Sophie Fiala -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IIV Mikrofinanzfonds Loans $2m to FINCA Tajikistan for Microfinance

German investment research firm Agents for Impact recently advised Germany-based Invest in Visions (IIV) on its disbursement of a loan in the amount of USD 2 million to FINCA Tajikistan, a microfinance institution (MFI) affiliated with the US-based for-profit