Having unlocked this Vitrine Theme , here is the deal:
Blended Finance Refugee Fund – Hybrid Investment Model to Enable Refugees in Jordan
Impact Business Case
IDENTITY CARD
Blended Finance Refugee Fund
- The world is undergoing one of the worst refugee crisis since World War II, and Jordan is one of the most affected countries both in absolute and relative terms
- While many humanitarian relief & infrastructure investment efforts exist, the funding ecosystem underserves SMEs & entrepreneurs which cater to refugee needs
- The social impact investment component with a triple bottom-line impact is more than attainable in the refugee context, but until now little has been done outside the pure aid sphere
- Vehicle to fill the void by institutionalising venture / SME investment & nurture entrepreneurship for one of the most vulnerable demographic segments
- Given the specifics of refugee finance, in particular if in a hybrid commercial effort, we are looking for interested parties to become cooperating partners in developing this initiative further…
Photo:M.Umarova
Terms
Project
The Blended Finance Refugee Fund will cater to both start-up & existing business models that enable Syrian refugees and to contribute to their economic empowerment
- The structure will be hybrid, with blended finance channelled through a social impact fund to entrepreneurs or existing SME businesses, led by Syrian entrepreneurs or those companies specifically catering to refugee needs
- Accelerator: located in Amman? (Impact MENA-led) will have two different tracks: a new business creation track and an existing business growth track, to prepare & empower the entrepreneurs for venture funding
- Blended Finance Refugee Fund: located in Amman will finance the most commercially sound graduate entrepreneurs or existing businesses, and support them until exit in a VC sense
Investment strategy
The principal investment objective of the fund manager will be to achieve above-average returns in terms of triple bottom-line impact for all the stakeholders of the Blended Finance Refugee Fund
Investment structure
It is the intention, if at all sustainable, to attempt the whole structure to be onshore based, whereby the Blended Finance Refugee Fund will be enabling additional impact through strengthening the local risk investment ecosystem
Investment roles
The proposed hybrid investment model to help enable Syrian refugees in Jordan, with a wide participation for cooperating partners across the ecosystem
Entrepreneurial development
Using the Kauffman FastTrac entrepreneurship development program and developing a number of proprietary tracks to be used in the acceleration process but also in further corporate development stages of selected businesses
- Acceleration component of the Blended Finance Refugee Fund
- Pipeline development process
- SME creation track
- SME growth track
- Capacity building & support tools
- Business plan development tool
- FastTrac NewVenture
- FastTrac GrowthVenture
The processes
A stacked process that would blend the elements of business acceleration & entrepreneurial development with venture investment & development, while complying to the internationally recognised social impact investment guidelines
Impact method
An impact measurement framework, tailored to the context of refugees that will be built into the investment process and will measure its non-financial impact contribution
- The framework takes as it starting point the SDGs and uses its targets & indicators combined with other indicators
- The framework is built on the basis of highly recognised concepts
- The framework measures the impact at two different levels, at the venture levels and at the Blended Finance Refugee Fund level
Impact measurement
Impact measurement is an integrated part of the strategy built into the investment process
- A measurement framework tailored to the unique context of refugee entrepreneurs, as well as refugees affected by the project
- The framework takes as it starting point the SDGs, and uses its targets & indicators combined with other indicators
- The framework built on the basis of internationally recognised concepts (EVPA and Kellogg Logic Framework)
- The impact framework measures the non-financial impact & helps to understand impact on society & environment, and its contribution to sustainable development
Impact value chain
The objective of Impact measurement is to manage and optimising the process of creating social impact by transforming objectives into measurable results through an Impact Value Chain using a combination of indicators
EXPLORATORY PIPELINE
For the purposes of assessing the market, we have done certain extrapolations based on the surveys conducted
Beneficiary businesses / start-ups:
- Businesses owned by Syrians
- Businesses employing Syrians
- Businesses catering to Syrians
- Businesses in effected refugee areas
Business examples addressing SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and 10:
Industry & Agriculture
- Natural organic soap factory
- Decorative & precious stones
- Waste recycling plant
- Agribusiness marketing
- Olive peat factory
- Organic chicken breeding
- Cattle & sheep farm
- Organic fertiliser factory
- Poultry & cattle feed factory
- Tomato processing factory
- Aquaponics & fish farm
- Dried & frozen fruits factory
- Medical herbs factory
- Strawberry farm & factory
- Flavoured yogurt factory
- Healthy soups factory
- Bee Hives Factory
- Flour-based baked goods
- Thyme factory
- Chicken parts factory
Services & Tourism
- Specialty restaurants
- Organic goods retail
- Building restoration
- Construction services
- Mobile food trucks
- Medical resort
- Camping centre
- Mobile & hybrid auto repair
- Integrated petrol stations
- Transport services
- Repair services
- IT services
Deal sourcing
Blended Finance Refugee Fund with an active & collaborative approach
Various offline/online marketing channels & outreach partners will be utilised in both start-up & growth tracks
Marketing channels:
- Workshops & seminars: in collaboration with outreach partners
- Business plan competitions
- Digital: social media, dedicated website, SMS, eShots
- Printed material: leaflets, posters, billboards
- Other: radio ads & other visibility activities
Outreach Partners:
- Local NGOs: charities, clubs, commerce & industry chambers, professional networks, industry associations
- Government: related ministries & agencies, universities, research institutions
- Private sector: large local corporations, multinationals, Incubators, VCs,
- Multilateral agencies & donors
Cooperating partners
Key to this theme is in seeking cooperating partners, those coming onboard with this initiative, through available research, legal advisory & other in-kind participations and/or grants.
Log of approached entities at various stages of the project development:
NGOs
- King Abdullah II Fund for Development
- Crown Prince Foundation
- Shoman Foundation
- Nuqul Foundation
- Beyond Capital
- International Youth
- Foundation
- Mercy Corps
- Middle East Investment
- Initiative
- int@j
- SPARK
- Jordan River Foundation
- Injaz
- King Hussain Foundation
- Business and Professional
- Women-Amman (BPWA)
- Forum for Business and
- Professional Women (JFBPW)
- Women Access to Entrepreneurship Development and Training Society (WAEDAT)
- Sisterhood is Global Institute
- ReBootKamp (RBK)
- Center for International
- Private Enterprise
- Mowgli Mentoring
- AlFayha Charity
- Al Gharraa Charity Organisation
Multilateral Organisations & Donors
- UNWomen
- UNDP
- UNHCR
- ILO
- JADE
- EBRD
- EU
- EU country embassies
GOs
- Ministry of Planning
- Ministry of Industry & Trade
- Ministry of Labour
- Ministry of Interior
Further investigation requirement
Potential cooperating partners are invited to express interests and/or ability to help us on the following items:
- Market survey of the existing businesses by refugees & any registered interests with agencies, labor agencies & other
- Market survey of the unregistered refugees
- Interview government agencies for clarity on job restrictions
- Interview government agencies & study laws for clarity on differences and/or restrictions for business setup by Syrians
- Joint approach to the relevant Jordanian government bodies with the cooperating partners in order to get to certain comfort levels for potential Blended Finance Refugee Fund investors…
Proposed budget
Cooperating partners are invited to see if any grant or in-kind participation is in their domain to help develop the project further
Value added
The team has extensive regional as well as global expertise
It provides blended industry know-how with a complementary skill-set well suited to the project: entrepreneurship development, social impact management, SMEs investment & venture capital expertise
- Participated in a dozen social impact projects & as many transition impact investments
- Developed 22 national programs & 11 entrepreneurship development programs
- Closed 100 advisory & principal transactions worth $¾bil primarily with SMEs
- Executed over 30 principal investment exits with many more liquidity events
- Managed 4 funds and designed double that including a PPP fund
- International perspective from 2-dozen countries, yet a very regional focus
Theme Contribution
An independent advisory firm based out of Amman, primarily focused on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
- Impact MENA provides services to governments, non-profit organizations, universities, investors & other stakeholders in the entrepreneurship & innovation ecosystems
- The firm builds on the track record of its founders & team over the last 15 years designing & implementing economic development programs on the national & regional levels; in addition to engagements where the founders & team had acted as advisors to more than 50 leading organizations in 10 countries in the region
- Over the last 5 years, Impact MENA developed its own venture creation & acceleration model in which clients are engaged in well-designed awareness, training, mentoring & support activities to help them move from ideation to implementation in up to 3 months, in addition to an enterprise growth program for existing businesses
An independent advisory firm, primarily focused on social investment & corporate social responsibility
- 360°Impact creates bridges between social ventures, social investors & corporates by mapping out frameworks for societal & business value creation
- The advisory firm which is part of IPA (Impact Partnership Advisory Pty Ltd) identifies, nurtures & cultivates a pipeline of early stage social entrepreneurs, with which corporates engage operationally on social ventures which receive strategic support & access to market and financing from social investors
- Another part of 360°Impact’s job involves advising corporates on the alignment of social & economic goals by integrating economic, social & environmental objectives
- The advisory firm has also developed a market watch intelligence on subjects such as sustainability and innovation, SDGs, social entrepreneurship, strategic CSR & inclusive development
Theme Related Tracker
- The Overlapping Impacts of Off-Grid Solar: Four Ways Innovative Funding Can Enable the Sector to Advance Global Climate and Poverty Goalson September 21, 2023
How can the off-grid solar sector achieve its energy access and climate-related goals? Laura Fortes and Drew Corbyn at GOGLA argue that there’s one clear answer to that question: more and better finance. They discuss four ways innovative funding models can enable the sector to rapidly and radically accelerate progress toward universal energy access and other development goals.
- Strengthening the Front Lines in the Fight Against Climate Change: A Call for Investment in Coastal Communities’ Resilienceon September 18, 2023
This week, both the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit and Climate Week NYC are happening in New York, at the end of the hottest summer on record. As Florian Kemmerich at Palladium and Bamboo Capital Partners points out, there are good reasons for the alignment between the two events and the growing urgency of the discussion — particularly in a coastal city like New York. He explores how coastal communities bear the brunt of escalating climate impacts, and how investing in their climate resilience can support progress toward the other SDGs.
- Looking Back, Looking Forward: Exploring NextBillion’s New Features and Updated Design, As We Approach Our Third Decade Onlineon September 15, 2023
Yesterday, NextBillion launched the latest phase of our ongoing site redesign. Since this redesign represents one of the most significant shifts of the site’s features and functionality in our almost 20-year history, we wanted to explain the thinking behind these changes, and explore how our new design reflects both NextBillion’s ongoing evolution, and the evolution of the broader “impact media” space.
- A Pivotal Moment to Invest in Africa: How Impact Investing Can Transform the Continent’s Healthcare Value Chainon September 11, 2023
The global impact investment market is estimated to be worth US $1.16 trillion, but less than 2% of these investments are channeled to Africa’s health markets. Abiodun Awosusi at the Ivey Business School argues that this should not be the case, as the continent offers uniquely valuable opportunities for health businesses and the investors that support them. He explores the overlapping trends that are driving these opportunities, and shares some ways investors and other stakeholders can get involved.
- Insights from 10 Years of Boosting Gender Inclusion in Business: A Pioneering Social Enterprise Explores How the Sector Can Take the Next Stepson September 7, 2023
Over the past 10 years, gender inclusion has become a growing priority in business and investing. However, as Rebecca Fries and Luis Marquez at Value for Women point out, only $6 billion was raised for gender lens investing in 2021 — a tiny percentage of the $1.2 trillion raised by private markets globally. As Value for Women moves into its second decade, they share insights that will fuel progress toward gender inclusion in business and investment in emerging markets over the coming years.
- Rethinking Scale in Agribusiness: An Impact Investor Explores the Massive Benefits of Being Smallon September 5, 2023
Many impact investors have adopted the mindset of traditional venture capital, seeking out companies with the potential to reach millions of customers. But Chris Wayne and Coco Lim at Acumen argue that this single-minded focus on scale ignores the realities of agribusinesses in emerging markets, and overlooks small businesses' potential to make a deeper impact. They explore why impact investors should focus on more than just the number of "lives impacted” by their agriculture investments, moving toward a more nuanced understanding of scale in this crucial sector.
- Yunus Was Right — Credit is Indeed a Human Right, and Savings is Important Too: Why the Microfinance Sector Must Avoid the ‘Circular Firing Squad’ and Promote Multiple Approaches to Financial Inclusionon August 31, 2023
Alex Counts, financial inclusion pioneer and founder of Grameen Foundation, took issue with Jeffrey Ashe’s recent NextBillion article, “Yunus Was Wrong—Savings, Not Credit, is a Human Right.” He argues that, instead of seeing the world through an “either/or” lens, the financial inclusion sector should embrace multiple tools, including credit, savings, insurance and more — and he urges today's changemakers to avoid promoting one social innovation at the expense of others.
- Closing the ‘Subjective Impact Gap’: How Social Enterprises Can Motivate and Retain Talent by Overcoming Doubts About Their Impacton August 28, 2023
Social enterprises often struggle to recruit a skilled workforce, leading many to attract workers by promising a rewarding job that makes a difference. But as Andreana Drencheva at King’s College London explains, workers don't always experience this sense of positive impact — something she terms the "subjective impact gap." She explores how this issue can affect staff morale, recruitment and retention, and shares five ways social enterprises can address it.
