Through its innovative approach known as PesaPoa, which means “cool money” in Swahili, SBI is committed to making sustainable investments with high impact to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

At least 40% of SMEs in Africa are women owned.  The total MSME finance gap globally for women according to the World Bank is US$1.7 trillion (over 6 percent of global GDP). In Africa, the financing gap for women MSMEs is estimated at US$50 billion.

Leveraging on innovative technology and science-based lending practices, PesaPoa is a $30 million automated digital platform providing working capital finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with a special focus on women owned, led or impacting MSMEs. The facility is well-engaged on a transformative journey to deliver 1 million loans to 100,000 companies, in 10 African countries, and create 100,000 jobs.

PesaPoa’s approach to solving the working capital challenges faced in the market, uses digital gaming (experiences/scenarios) enabled by mobile and financial technologies to drive last-mile financial inclusion, especially for micro-enterprises (up to 10 employees).

ImpactAssets released the ImpactAssets 50 2023 (IA 50), a free publicly available, searchable database of impact investment fund managers for impact investors, family offices, corporations, foundations, and institutional investors. For more details, visit www.southbgroup.com