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IIV Mikrofinanzfonds issues first parallel loan with IFC to Uzbek financial institution

  • Loan amount equivalent to up to USD 10 mio. in Uzbek S’om (UZS) goes to PJSCB DAVR Bank
  • Parallel lending in the same amount by the International Finance Cooperation (IFC)

The German Impact Investor Invest in Visions has granted a loan through its managed IIV Mikrofinanzfonds in the amount of USD 10 mio. in Uzbek S’om (UZS) with a term of three years to the Uzbek PJSCB DAVR Bank. The special feature is that it is a parallel loan given in the same amount by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC had already issued DAVR Bank a loan of USD 5 million in 2020, which was repaid in December 2022.

Targeting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), DAVR Bank is one of Uzbekistan’s few private financial institutions. In a state-dominated banking system, it is well positioned to effectively channel funds from the loan investment package to borrowers. The two loans are intended to enable DAVR Bank to further expand its presence among MSMEs, including among women-owned enterprises. MSMEs account for about 45 per cent of DAVR Bank’s gross portfolio, of which 16.4 per cent are loans to women entrepreneurs.

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This loan will make a significant contribution to the development of the Uzbek economy and further promote MSME financing.

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Mirsodiq Mirzakhidov, Head of the International Cooperation Department at PJSCB DAVR BANK

“We expect the UZS financing package, worth a total of USD 20 million, to improve access to finance for non-bank financed MSMEs. The lending is expected to strengthen the providers of MSME financing, such as DAVR Bank, and at the same time to empower entrepreneurs,” says Edda Schröder, Founder and Managing Director of Invest in Visions.

LEGAL NOTICE

The information contained herein does not constitute an investment recommendation or other advice. The opinions expressed herein are those of Invest in Visions. These opinions are subject to change at any time. Although great care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this document is accurate, no responsibility can be accepted for errors or omissions of any kind, as well as for any actions based on them. The publisher is Invest in Visions GmbH with its registered office at Freiherr-vom-Stein-Str. 24-26, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The impact investor Invest in Visions GmbH appoints Lars Siebert (44) with immediate effect as the second managing director alongside founder Edda Schröder. The business graduate has been has been Chief Operating Officer at the company since October 2019 and will focus on on operational topics. He has around 20 years of professional experience in the banking and finance industry, including several years in management and leadership positions. In his career he has been in charge of various focal points such as risk management, portfolio risk management project and process management, contract and outsourcing management as well as various regulatory and regulatory and audit topics. With his appointment as managing director, the company underscores the increasing importance of regulatory and operational requirements.

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Lars Siebert has made a significant contribution to the operational stability and improvement of our internal processes in recent years. We are pleased that he is is expanding his responsibilities with this position.

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Edda Schröder

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I would like to continue to contribute to the vision and strategy of Invest in Visions successfully and further strengthen them. Above all, the that as an impact investor we help people in developing countries and we contribute to a fairer world motivates me to continuously expand our company together with the team. continuously expand our company in a future-oriented way.

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Lars Siebert

About Invest in Visions

Invest in Visions GmbH is a pioneer in impact investments and microfinance. Founded in 2006 by Edda Schröder, Invest in Visions currently manages around one billion EUR in mutual and special funds (as of 30.04.2023). The focus is always on developing and emerging countries.
The Impact Investor gives institutional and private investors access to investments that offer not only a financial but also a social return and have a positive impact on society and the environment. In 2011, Invest in Visions reached an important milestone and initiated the first microfinance fund in Germany, which is also open to private investors.

“People do anything for money – even good things!”

Society and the financial sector are on the verge of an epochal transformation. Systems that were thought to be stable are overloaded. Financial flows must be channelled into necessary change processes. But how? These and other questions will be addressed at the 9th Fair Finance Week from 7 to 11 November 2022 in Frankfurt. On five evenings starting at 7:30 p.m., experts from politics, business and science will discuss under the motto “People do anything for money – even Good!”

If you don’t want us to be only concerned with disaster management in the future, you have to put all investment and consumption decisions on ‘green’ now. This applies to politics, the economy, citizens – and in a very special way also to the financial sector,” said political scientist and economist Prof. Reinhard Loske. He continued: “When dealing with the climate crisis, we must finally move from footprint to handprint, from what we do in terms of ecological damage to what we do through credible and joint action to create good and prevent the worst. The financial sector can make a key contribution to this if it finally becomes honest and resists the temptations of mere ‘green-washing’. Good!”

Prof. Loske is one of the speakers at the event. Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, will kick off the Fair Finance Week with a greeting message, followed by the Treasurer of the City of Frankfurt, Dr. Bastian Bergerhoff. Other exciting impulses will be provided by a representative of Fridays for Future (tba), Michael Dittrich, Secretary General of the German Federal Environmental Foundation, Jessica Espinoza, CEO 2X Collaborative and Dr. Michael Pahle from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Research.

The Fair Finance Network Frankfurt is a cooperation of banks and financial organisations in the financial centre of Frankfurt am Main, which are committed to strengthening the sustainable financial sector through joint education and public relations work. Its members are Evangelische Bank Frankfurt, GLS Bank, Invest in Visions, Oikocredit Hessen-Pfalz and Triodos Bank Deutschland.
Participation in the event, organized by the Fair Finance Network Frankfurt, is free of charge and is aimed at all interested parties.

 

 

Invest in Visions sets the course for the future

• FS Invest Holding acquires a stake in Invest in Visions as of 01.08.2022
• Invest in Visions well equipped for further business development

With FS Invest Holding GmbH, Invest in Visions GmbH is bringing a long-term investor on board and setting the course for further growth in the field of impact investing. The investor holds a 74.9% stake in Invest in Visions GmbH. FS Invest Holding is part of the Helmig family’s group of companies, which is already active in the financial sector through a number of other investments.

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I founded Invest in Visions 16 years ago. Together with a strong partner, I would like to continue to drive growth and expand the business in the future. At a time when impact investing is highly valued and a growth area, it is important to be able to build up appropriate resources and know-how. With FS Invest Holding as a new anchor shareholder, we have a guarantee for the stability of our business model. Now we can take the next step in our development and expand our product offering in the area of impact investing.

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Edda Schröder, founder and managing director of Invest in Visions

Invest in Visions is one of the first impact investors. The IIV Microfinance Fund, which the company launched in 2011, was the first fund of this asset class in Germany for private and institutional investors. The international and experienced portfolio management provides loans to selected microfinance institutions as well as to small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries.

ABOUT INVEST IN VISIONS

Invest in Visions GmbH was founded in 2006 by Edda Schröder with the vision of giving institutional and private investors access to impact investments, i.e. investments that offer positive social impact in addition to financial returns.
Invest in Visions has made a name for itself as a microfinance investor from the very beginning and reached an important milestone in 2011 with the launch of the IIV Microfinance Fund as the first fund of this asset class in Germany for private and institutional investors.

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We are very excited about this milestone. When I founded Invest in Visions in 2006, the topic of microfinance was still quite unknown in the industry and we had to do a lot of convincing investors about the positive effects, and convey that social commitment hand in hand with financial returns is quite possible

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Edda Schröder, Managing Director of Invest in Visions GmbH

In 2011, the Impact Investor launched the IIV Microfinance Fund – the first microfinance fund in Germany for private and institutional investors. The first loan was granted to a small microfinance institution in Tajikistan, and today Invest in Visions has 99 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 35 countries. In 2021, the target countries were expanded to include Botswana, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nigeria, Romania and Tanzania. The focus is on small and medium-sized MFIs, mainly in South America (around 24%), followed by Central America and the Caribbean (around 16%) and Central Asia (around 14%).

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We are constantly looking for new investment opportunities. Due to macroeconomic, geopolitical or risk-related influences, it is always a challenge to maintain our high quality standards. After all, we are not only committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also have a responsibility to our investors,

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Edda Schröder, Managing Director of Invest in Visions GmbH

With the launch of the fund, the concept convinced the investors. In the summer of 2015, the fund volume reached 160 million euros, but one year later it reached 298 million euros. Almost eleven years after its launch, the IIV Microfinance Fund alone, the flagship of Invest in Visions, has now grown to a volume of 893.56 million euros* and inspires countless investors – both institutional and private individuals. The Invest in Visions fund family also includes two special funds, the IIV Microfinance Bond and the IIV Sustainable SME Debt Fund EM – Finance for Future, which was launched in 2021 for institutional investors.

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icht nur das stete Wachstum freut uns, sondern auch, dass viele Investoren nach wie vor von unserem Konzept überzeugt sind und uns seit Jahren ihre Gelder anvertrauen

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Edda Schröder

As the volume has grown, so has the number of employees at Invest in Visions to 25. But that’s not all: “I see our success above all in our positive social impact, which we measure, among other things, on the basis of the final borrowers reached. In 2021 alone, we were able to increase this number by around 30,000 new final borrowers despite Corona restrictions and now have more than 690,000 people for whom we have been able to enable a better, future-oriented life with our funds,” says Schröder.
* As of March 31, 2022

Award-winning: The IIV Microfinance Fund receives the prize “Best Bond Fund” as part of the Fund Boutique Award

At the first-ever presence event for the Boutiques Awards 2021, the IIV Microfinance Fund was awarded “Best Pension Fund”.
The initiators Mein Geld Medien, AECON Fondsmarketing and Pro BoutiquenFonds had to a well-attended awards gala in a Frankfurt event location and over 200 guests accepted the invitation. over 200 guests accepted the invitation.

The awards are investment funds from smaller independent asset managers whose assets under management could not exceed €1 billion. One multi-year, positive performance and a convincing investment concept were necessary in order to let the expert jury come to your conclusion.

The aim of the Boutiques Awards and the public distinction is to bring fund boutiques with their often very creative and rather non-benchmarked strategies more strongly into the light of the public.

This succeeds with a very good performance only in the rarest cases and here the fund initiators are to be supported in the future by the annual Award presentation.

The Invest in Visions team is very pleased to receive this prestigious award and congratulates the other award winners.