Through BII Plus, we provide technical assistance to identify and create opportunities that are beyond the scope of returnable capital. We focus on three types of activity.
Supporting businesses in our portfolio
First, we enable companies in our portfolio to scale responsible and high-impact business models and pilot impactful innovations, products or services. In 2024, BII Plus supported 41 portfolio companies, including the following, to strengthen their core business capabilities to deliver impact, and pilot innovative approaches to unlock additional impact:
- Supporting Sahyadri Farms, an agribusiness in India, to switch to a cleaner, circular and nature-based wastewater treatment system. This has halved greenhouse gas emissions and reduced energy consumption by 65 per cent, as well as provided a bio-stimulant that is boosting crop productivity.
- Supporting Veritas, an Indian non-financial banking company, to explore opportunities to support women entrepreneurs. This led to Veritas launching a product designed specifically to address barriers faced by women-led MSMEs. It has already reached over 1,600 customers. Read more here
Unlocking new investments
Second, we unlock investment into impactful businesses and frontier markets by supporting companies to be ‘investment ready’. In 2024, we supported over 25 businesses, including the following, in this way:
- In South Africa, funding a market study that supported Etana Energy in securing a default guarantee for South Africa’s largest energy wheeling transaction (see case study).
- In Sierra Leone, helping Ecobank to offer more local currency loans to growing businesses in critical sectors such as renewable energy and agriculture (see case study).
- In Nepal, through Invest for Impact Nepal, supporting 11 Nepalese financial institutions and private capital funds to improve their business practices, with a focus on ESG.
Strengthening the impact investment industry
Third, we support the creation of guidance, training and partnerships to advance ESG, climate and gender-focused topics among the broader impact investing community.
- We led the development of an advanced gender-based violence and harassment training programme, working with five other DFIs, which we are now delivering to our portfolio and the wider business community. Find out more about the ways we support responsible investing in our Annual Report and Accounts on page 18.
- We published new guidance, in partnership with Transparency International UK which aims to place business integrity at the heart of impact investing. It focuses on how investors can identify, assess and manage integrity risks that could undermine environmental and social risk management and outcomes.
- We delivered responsible investment and development impact assessment training to over 1,050 people across our portfolio. This included bespoke sessions on proactively managing bribery and corruption risks, and on environmental, social and safeguarding risks.
