Gray Ghost Microfinance Fund
Paul DiLeo, before founding Grassroots Capital Management (GCM), was instrumental in building the US $69 million microfinance portfolio of the Gray Ghost Microfinance Fund (GGMF). As one of the early private investors in microfinance, GGMF played a catalytic role in expanding the supply of capital to microfinance institutions (MFIs) through the demonstration effect of its investments and represents one of the most dynamic pools of capital in the industry. GCM continues to manage the microfinance portfolio today while also playing a more direct role in the management of many of the underlying regional equity-focused funds which we helped to launch.
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Bellwether Microfinance Fund
Along with Hivos Triodos Fonds and Caspian, Grassroots Capital Management (GCM), through its management of Gray Ghost, created and launched the Bellwether Microfinance Fund in 2005 as the first on-shore private equity fund focused on the Indian microfinance market. Bellwether makes equity and debt investments in start-up and mid-sized Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs). The objectives of Bellwether include to accelerate capital flow to the microfinance sector, help financially viable MFIs to scale up operations and transform into responsible, regulated entities, contribute to increase access to financial services of underserved populations across India regardless of creed, caste, or gender, and ensure a competitive financial return along with a significant social return to its investors. Bellwether has expanded microfinance throughout the Indian geography and has played a lead role in creating investable MFIs in India today.
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Global Microfinance Equity Fund (GMEF)
With the success of Gray Ghost and placement of the bulk of its capital, the Grassroots Capital Management (GCM) team decided to launch a new vehicle targeting private investors with a “fund of regional funds” strategy similar to that of Gray Ghost. GCM was spun out of Gray Ghost as an independent manager to launch and manage the Global Microfinance Equity Fund (GMEF) with US$117 million committed by early 2010. As 2010 unfolded, the microfinance industry was faced with mounting questions about its social and financial performance. By year end, a number of investors in GMEF were reassessing their commitment to the microfinance space in light of these developments, troubled investments by the Fund in Nicaragua and India, and global financial market developments in general, and the Fund’s LPs took advantage of a key person event to seek a release of roughly half of total capital that was still uncommitted. A wind down of the Fund was initiated under new management, while Grassroots continues to manage the bulk of the underlying regional assets.
India Financial Inclusion Fund
India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF) is a US$89 million fund that was set up in August 2008 as an off-shore India-focused equity fund. The fund builds on the experience of Caspian Advisors and their successful management of Bellwether to take advantage of the growing appetite for equity in the Indian microfinance sector. IFIF makes equity investments in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and companies that enable financial inclusion which directly provide financial services to the poor and/or disenfranchised. IFIF endeavors to promote a wide range of financial services, including credit, savings, insurance or remittance facilities, to the un-served/under-served segments for their business and personal needs. Through its investments, IFIF aims to accelerate the growth of small, medium and large sized MFIs by providing them growth capital as well as strategic inputs, enable diversification of product offerings and deliver a competitive financial return while supporting the expansion of social performance best-practices across the industry.
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Próspero Microfinanzas Fund
Prospero is designed to bring strong, regionally based equity management capabilities to bear on the many parts of Latin America currently lacking well-established, high-performing microfinance institutions (MFIs). Próspero Microfinanzas Fund was formed by Grassroots Capital Management and Bolivian Investment Management (BIM) or the purpose of making equity and equity-like investments in early and intermediate stage MFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund has dual goals of providing a competitive financial return to its investors and contributing to positive social impact to microfinance clients through its portfolio investments. The fund plans to achieve its objectives by focusing on MFIs dedicated to serving the less penetrated microfinance markets and unbanked or under-served populations, and working with investee MFIs to enhance their social performance management and improve their ability to measure and report on social performance.
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