our impact

on people and planet

We facilitate change. Our investments enable the most vulnerable people to secure a decent income and help protect the environment to create a fair world.

The four key pillars of our work

financial inclusion
market access
support for rural businesses
protecting the planet

financial inclusion

The challenge

38% of the adult population, most of whom are women, don’t have access to banking services.

Our impact: by providing financing to our microfinance partners, we ensure financial inclusion for more than four million people around the world, 74% of whom are women and 64% of whom live in rural areas.

Why?

Financial inclusion plays an important role in supporting the development of vulnerable populations, improving their resilience and ensuring their financial security.

market access

The challenge

In rural areas, three billion families live on farms of less than two hectares. Many have little or no market access for their production and live in poverty and food insecurity.

Our impact: thanks to our partnerships with agricultural SMEs that are committed to sustainable agriculture, we create new market opportunities for more than 157,000 smallholder farmers.

Why?

Market access is vital to improving farming income and the living conditions of farmers and their families. Market access is vital to improving farming income and the living conditions of farmers and their families.

Support for rural businesses

The challenge

Small family-run agriculture businesses face a funding gap of over 250 billion dollars. These small businesses need loans that are too large for microfinance institutions but are too small for traditional lenders, which also consider their profile to be ‘high-risk’.

Our impact: we provide financial support to 59 agricultural businesses and we are the first lender for more than half of them.

Why?

Agricultural SMEs play a crucial role in the development of rural communities. They create jobs and new economic opportunities for local people.

Protecting the planet

The challenge

Agriculture contributes significantly to climate change, but is also a victim of its effects. Smallholder farmers are already experiencing these harmful effects: higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events affect these farmers’ agricultural yields, their food security and their ability to earn a stable and predictable income.

Our impact: Alterfin only finances sustainable agriculture projects and 71% of farmers supported by Alterfin have organic farming and/or fair trade certification.

Why?

The global transition to sustainable food and agriculture encourages healthy ecosystems and sustainable management of the earth, water and natural resources, all while improving the resilience of smallholder farmers.

What do we do?

  1. Financial services
    We provide short- and long-term loans for microfinance institutions and agricultural SMEs to finance their working capital. We facilitate their long-term growth with conditions that are adapted to meeting their needs.
  2. Non-financial services
    We finance technical assistance projects to meet our partners’ needs, empowering them and increasing their impact on the populations they support.

How do we assess our impact?

We strive to maximize our social and environmental impact from the very beginning, when choosing our partners, and we assess this impact throughout the investment cycle:

  1. and social assessments
    Using a bespoke tool, we carry out a rigorous analysis of our partners’ social and environmental performance.
  2. Evidence-based impact assessments
    We interview our partners and their final beneficiaries to ensure the positive impact of our work.

Sustainability-related Disclosures

The Regulation EU/2019/2088 of November 27, 2019 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR) sets out sustainability disclosure requirements for a broad range of financial market participants, financial advisors and financial products. It was enacted to improve both transparency of sustainable investment products and comparability of disclosures for end investors and to prevent greenwashing.

The statement provides sustainability-related disclosures pursuant to the SFDR with respect to Alterfin's role as an alternative investment fund manager and with respect to the alternative investment fund it manages. Read the full statement.

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Consult the information note

Investing in cooperative shares at Alterfin involves certain risks. Investors are exposed to the risk of losing all or part of the investment. Before buying shares, potential investors should carefully read the information note.

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