Strategic Impact Framework

Vivero Los Viñedos, a Peruvian company for fruit plants, will expand its workforce significantly by 63%, or 1,000 new jobs by 2027.

Vivero Los Viñedos is a plant nursery business with operations in three locations along Peru’s coastal region, specialising in the propagation of fruit and vegetable plants as well as grape production. Founded in 1994 by agricultural engineer Mercedes Auris de Munive - who comes from a farming background - the company was established to address a market need for more resilient, high-yield plant varieties. Her goal was to help reduce crop losses caused by plant diseases and improve productivity for local farmers.

BIO’s follow-on investment in candi solar will reach about 100 SMEs thanks to financing the management of a solar plant that will provide them with reliable and affordable access to clean energy.

candi solar is a company that develops, owns, and operates solar power plants, providing clean electricity to clients in India and South Africa. candi solar’s core strategy focuses on serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that require reliable, affordable energy but prefer to allocate their resources to their core operations. By offering a fully outsourced solution for the financing, installation, and management of solar systems, candi solar enables these businesses to benefit from solar energy without upfront capital investment or operational burden.

Amartha Inclusive Capital Fund combines traditional microfinance with digital solutions in Southeast Asia, with an exclusive focus on microentrepreneurs.

Founded in 2010, Amartha aims to provide productive loans and financial services to unbanked and underserved women in rural Indonesia. The Amartha platform operates as a decentralised network, enabling individuals to interact and transact directly - without traditional intermediaries. Common examples of such models include crowdlending and crowdfunding platforms. Over the years, Amartha has emerged as one of Indonesia’s fastest-growing microfinance providers. As of March 2024, it had connected 11 institutional partners and 142,000 active retail lenders with 1.5 million women borrowers across 92,000 villages, with an average loan size of USD 375.

The African Rivers Fund IV, managed by the Dutch fund manager XSML, is active in the challenging context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where lending activity to SMEs is very limited and very few private equity funds are active. The fund offers mezzanine finance to underserved SMEs, providing flexible, long-term finance.

The fund has a local team on the ground in the DRC, catering tailor-made, flexible debt offering - including mezzanine or quasi-equity instruments - funding to SMEs in difficult markets, and ensuring value creation through the manager's hands-on approach that enables these SMEs to institutionalise by providing know-how and support, particularly in operational improvements, financial management and reporting, and ESG best practices.

In the financial sector, Banco Guayaquil is strengthening its climate governance and accountability by adopting a climate change strategy developed with the support of BIO's Business Development Support Fund. Among other components, the strategy includes assessing physical climate change risks and opportunities, thereby demonstrating the integration of climate adaptation measures at the institutional level.

Banco Guayaquil is one of Ecuador’s most established universal banks, with over a century of experience, a solid track record, and a strong focus on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which make up more than 30% of its portfolio. With a broad presence across all provinces, the bank consistently ranks among the country’s top financial institutions, holding 12% of total banking assets. Its growth prospects remain strong, supported by a strategic emphasis on digital transformation and innovation.