Business Partners International Rwanda SME Fund

completed

The proposed project is to establish an $8 million investment fund, Business Partners International Rwanda SME Fund (“BP Rwanda”), capable of delivering finance and technical assistance to local SMEs in a commercially sustainable manner and generating an acceptable return to investors in the Fund. BP Rwanda represents the fourth IFC investment in a local investment fund managed by Business Partners International (“BPI”). To date, IFC has invested $5.0 million in BP Kenya (IFC project no. 23826) and $3.7 million in BP Madagascar (IFC project no. 23825). A third fund, BP Mozambique (IFC project no. 26028, $1.6 million) is Board approved and expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2011. The Fund aims to overcome the main obstacles in providing finance to smaller SMEs, namely: (i) lack of collateral and weak enforcement for debt providers; (ii) lack of upside opportunities for equity investors; (iii) high cost of appraisal; (iv) lack of controlling positions; and (v) limited exit potential.