Fund Management Companies
NIRAS also works with setting up revolving financing facilities established as legal entities. In these set up initial grant funding is translated into financial products e.g. debt products in the form of credit lines and guarantees to, for example, rural banks for further on-lending. NIRAS establishes the team acting as the Fund Manager but also advises others such as funding agencies or government entities on establishing such entities.
Rural Development Fund
FUNDER:
Danida
DURATION:
2017-2019
FUND VALUE:
€17,000,000
The Rural Development Fund was established to contribute to increased growth of MSMEs within agriculture, agribusiness, rural micro/small and medium enterprises, renewable energy and energy efficiency through access to finance. Established by NIRAS, the Fund provides working capital finance to rural community banks, rural micro finance institutions, and savings and loans companies. It also provides term finance, primarily to rural community banks for on-lending to rural SMEs. NIRAS’ contract ran from 2017 to 2019 after which the fund manager was transferred to the Fund itself and operates currently on its own. In collaboration with lawyers, the NIRAS team established the fund including legal registration with a license to operate as a financial institution and prepared all pertinent corporate documents, e.g. Finance and Accounting Manual; Operating Manual (including IT and procurement); staff handbook (including anti-corruption and fraud policies); Investment Policy and Manual (including due diligence procedure); and Risk Policy and Register.