devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Lulalend Project The proposed project is a US$2.8 million equity investment into Lulalend, an online uncollateralized MSME lending platform based in Cape Town, South Africa. Lulalend leverages technology to provide loans to banked but underserved businesses in South Africa. Lulalends customers are MSMEs with annual turnover ranges of $36K-3.5MM, from the retail, services, manufacturing, logistics and construction sectors. IFCs investment will help increase access to finance for micro and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in South Africa. Project outcome: stakeholders: Increased Access to Finance for SMEs. IFC's investment will allow Lulalend to grow its portfolio of uncollateralized loans targeted to micro and small enterprises. Lulalend serves customers with annual revenues ranging between ZAR500K and ZAR50MM ($36K - $3.5MM), with an average loan size of ~$10,000. Their primary target customers are those that have less than ZAR10MM ($700K) revenue per year. These firms are below the lending thresholds of traditional banks that typically offer them transactional services and wouldn't be able to access credit from formal sources. 89% percent of Lulalend's customers are estimated to be first time business borrowers. 

Contribution to market creation: Competitiveness: IFC anticipates that the Project will contribute to promoting systemic changes in the MSME lending market in South Africa in line with other investments made under the SME Push Program in the country. Lulalend specializes on MSME lending, maintaining low operating costs compared to banks and other full-service providers. We expect the success of Lulalend to contribute to greater competitiveness and innovation in the market through two channels: i) demonstrating the viability of extending credit to smaller MSMEs, leading new entrants, as well as existing financial service providers to emulate its business model and its products, ii) partnering with at least one larger financial institution in South Africa to serve these segments through partnerships or the development of white-label technology solution for serving micro and small enterprises.
BMW South Africa table, .k-table{ border-collapse:collapse; width:100%; table-layout:fixed; margin-bottom: 15px;} .k-table, .k-table td, table, table td {outline: 0;border: 1px solid #000; } .k-table td, table td { padding: 5px; }     Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG or together with its subsidiaries, the BMW) has invited IFC to provide up to US$150 million financing equivalent in South African Rand (ZAR) for the upgrade of its existing automotive assembly plant to produce the new BMW X3 model in South Africa (the Project), for global markets including Europe, Africa and Asia. The IFC financing would be a long-term loan in local currency and would be extended to BMW (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Pretoria (BMW SA). BMW SA is incorporated in South Africa (SA) and engages in the manufacturing, importing, exporting and distribution of motor vehicles, parts and accessories.   The Project will be undertaken at BMW SA's existing assembly plant in Rosslyn (the Rosslyn Plant), which was taken over by BMW in 1973 as BMW's first overseas plant out of Germany. Currently the plant produces the BMW 3 Series with about 2,800 direct employees and about 12,000 indirect employees engaged by suppliers. The IFC investment will be used to support the establishment of a new BMW X3 production facility, increase the plant efficiency and upskill employees. The investment will support technological transition of the plant from producing steel body vehicles to vehicle bodies built partially from aluminum with significant impacts to the supply chain. 1. Support the development of the SA automotive industry; 
2. Introduce new products and processes, and increase the competitiveness of the SA automotive sector; 
3. Maintain/sustain direct employment and generate indirect employment opportunities;
4. Support the local economy through export diversification;
5. Support the development of local suppliers; 
6. Increased local value added.
Buffalo City The Municipality of Buffalo City (MBC) has a capital expenditure program over the next three years of $151 million. A significant portion of these investments are in the area of high priority infrastructure. The purpose of the project is to provide support to the city in financing its capital investment plans and optimizing its borrowing structure through the provision of a partial credit guarantee.
Nelson Project NET1 UEPS Technologies Inc. (Net1 or the Company) is a South Africa-based provider of payment solutions and transaction processing services across a range of industries and in various geographies. Net1s core offering is financial inclusion to the unbanked. On behalf of South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA), the Company registered 21 million people in South Africa, opened bank accounts for 10 million and serves those through its payment processing systems based on chip-enabled smart card technology, which includes biometric verification, a multi-functional electronic wallet, and both online and offline processing capabilities. The Companys technology enables the affordable delivery of financial services, especially in under-developed and/or rural locations. The Company plans to deepen its financial inclusion offering within South Africa and expand regionally, especially into countries where there is limited banking infrastructure and availability of financial services for the poorest segment of the population.   The Company is raising funds to finance its South African and international expansion which includes: (i) expanding the Companys reach in South Africa by rolling out new financial services centers and ATMs in low-income areas; (ii) entering into partnerships that will allow the Company to replicate its business model outside South Africa; (iii) developing and rolling-out mobile centric solutions as alternative delivery channels for financial services; and (iv) strategic acquisitions of payment companies in other emerging markets. In supporting Net1, IFC will promote a company that focuses on financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa and has developed proven solutions and products that are specifically designed for the underbanked. This project aims to enhance financial access in South Africa and other emerging markets. In particular by: (i) Providing last mile access: the Company distributes social grants to more than 10 million beneficiaries on behalf of the SASSA and operates more than 10,000 cash-out points via a fleet of truck-based ATMs and a network of retail points of sale that can operate in remote areas without internet connectivity (ii) Financial Inclusion: The Company has been working with social grant recipients for almost 20 years and has developed a strong understanding of this customer segment. In July 2015, Net1 introduced a new transaction account platform, the EasyPay Everywhere or "EPE" platform, which is directed at the low-income segment of the population. The service and transaction fees associated with the EPE account are among the lowest in the South African market.  (iii) Affordable financial services: Net1''s transaction account offering is complemented with micro-loans and life insurance products. Through the usage of technology and shared delivery infrastructure, the Company is able to reduce its cost base and offer very competitive financial services to its customer segment.
SBSA Sustainable Loan The proposed project consists of a senior unsecured loan to The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (SBSA or the Bank) to support the Banks renewable energy and affordable housing finance program in South Africa. Stakeholder effects: Increased availability of climate finance. The proposed Project will support access to climate finance, leveraging SBSA's market position and substantial reach. The growth of SBSA's green assets and renewable energy portfolio is expected to avoid GHG emissions. 

Stakeholders Effects: Increased access to housing finance. The Project will support access to affordable housing finance. South Africa is rapidly urbanizing, and an estimated 26 percent of the urban population lives in informal housing areas. The Project will increase the supply of housing finance for the affordable housing segment in South Africa.

Contribution to Market Creation
Sustainability: IFC anticipates that its systematic engagement at both the sectoral and financial institutions levels, through investments, upstream, and advisory services, will help scale-up climate finance, strengthen green finance standards in the country, and encourage replication by other institutions in South Africa; thus, contributing towards increased environmental sustainability through the demonstration and capacity building channels.
BPL Sr Loan 0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0.0000             The project consists of a 6-year ZAR600 million senior loan to Business Partners Limited   (BPL)  . The IFC loan forms part of the SME Push Program and will strengthen BPLs long-term funding position and support the expansion of its lending operations to underserved SMEs   in South Africa. Project-level development impacts: 

1)	Stakeholder impact: IFC anticipates that the project will increase access to finance for underserved SMEs, particularly those operating in the agricultural value chain, manufacturing, retail, and trade sectors. 
2)	Economy-wide effects: By supporting BPL's SME clients in their expansion, the project is expected to help contribute to job creation and economic growth.

Market-level development impact: 

1)	Competitiveness: BPL's unique product offering enables it to serve a segment of SMEs that cannot normally be reached by commercial banks. This project will enable BPL's specific product offering to become more widely available in the market, while also increasing the overall efficiency of serving this segment. 
2)	Inclusiveness: IFC anticipates that the Project will enable BPL to sustainably expand its financial services to under-served women-owned SMEs, thereby demonstrating their bankability and encouraging other financial institutions to also expand their services to this segment.
AlleyRoads Project Project is to construct and operate 1,061 green affordable housing units for rent across three housing developments in the Greater Johannesburg region (South Africa), over the next three years (the Project). IFC expects the Project to increase access to good quality affordable housing in a market characterized by a large demand-supply gap. It will also contribute to job creation, training, and development of supply chains in the local community. Finally, demonstration and replication effects are expected by showcasing that green affordable housing projects in the rental space can be profitable and successful.
SOUTH AFRICA HOME LOANS Summary Of Project Information (SPI)       Project Name    South Africa - SAHL      RegionSub-Saharan Africa   Sector   Project No009599   Projected Board DateNovember 30, 1999   Company NameA Home Loans (Pty) Limited   Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders    	The technical project sponsors are Simon Stockley and Dave Barber two South African businessmen with significant experience in the property and finance sector. Other shareholders include the Beare Family, Peregrine Limited and the International Bank of South Africa.      Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment    	IFC will take a 10% equity stake in SA Home Loans. The purchase price for IFC''s investment is under negotiation.         Location of project and Description of site    	SA Home Loans is located in Durban, Kwazulu Natal Province, South Africa. The operations are run from an office building in Durban North.       Description of Company and Purpose of Project    	The principal business objective of SA Home Loans is to originate, initially through refinancings but subsequently also through new mortgage originations, high quality residential mortgages featuring strong borrower repayment capacity and low Loan to Value (LTV) ratios. SAHL intends to fund its origination of the mortgages through the issuance of credit-rated, mortgage-backed securities initially in the domestic market. Using a combination of efficient, securitization driven funding and low overheads, SAHL will offer mortgage rates 2 to 3 percent lower than those currently oferred by the large commercial banks, which are the sole source of  private sector mortgage finance in South Africa at this time. Should this project be successful it will represent the first major securitization in Sub-Saharan Africa, and hopefully introduce this new form of financing to the region.    Environmental Category and Issues    	This is a category C project according to IFC''s environmental review procedures and is likely to have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts. No further environmental review is required.        Date SPI sent to InfoShop     October 13, 1999      This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporations Board of Directors.  It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFCs activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.    For Additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit -   telephone: (202) 473-7711   facsimile: (202) 974-4384
Nedbank Green Bond DCM The proposed investment consists of an IFC anchor investment of ZAR500 million in a 7-year ZAR 1.090 billion privately placed senior unsecured green bond issuance by Nedbank Limited (Nedbank or the Bank). The bond will be issued under the Banks ZAR75,000,000 Domestic Medium Term Note Programme dated February 8, 2019, will be certified to confirm alignment with the International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles, and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (the Project). The proceeds of the bond will be fully dedicated to financing Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE)-certified green residential housing developments in South Africa, up to 75% of which are anticipated to be in the affordable housing segment, on a reasonable-efforts basis. The expected Project-level outcome is increased access to climate finance (specifically, green residential buildings): Through this Project, IFC will build on Nedbanks leading position in green financing to expand its nascent EDGE-certified green housing program, focusing on the supply side, by catalyzing uptake of green housing funding beyond the usual players. Beyond the Project-level outcome, IFC anticipates that the Project, combined with the other initiatives under IFC's programmatic approach to increase climate finance in South Africa, will help scale up climate finance, strengthen green finance standards in the country, and encourage replication by other South African institutions, thus, contributing towards increased environmental sustainability through the demonstration and capacity building channels.
Bioventures Fund The primary goal of Bioventures is to provide term risk capital to early stage bioventure enterprises in South Africa that have defined market and export strategies, proprietary or exclusive technologies, and skillful management teams.  The targeted biotechnology sectors are:     Pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals      based on natural, animal, fungal or microbial products;    Healthcare technologies    including vaccine development, medical devices, diagnostics;    Genomics    including drug discovery based on genomic information, bioinformatics, tool makers and service providers to the genomic industry;    Agriculture, floriculture and mariculture    that are innovative technologies used to improve current agricultural practices. Individual farming activities will not be invested in;    Nutraceuticals    which is production of enhanced, beneficial foodstuffs often using natural plant products; and     Biomaterials and bioprocessing    including industrial biotechnology for the production of proteins, waste bio-remediation, development of bio-fuels, and others.    By investing in Bioventures, IFC will be providing long-term funding to companies which have difficulty accessing such funding through available sources.  It will also signal to other providers of funding to consider investing in biotechnology and other sectors which are traditionally considered risky.  Success of the Fund would have a demonstration effect to domestic institutional investors and may result in greater allocation of funds to venture capital.      Bioventures, the first biotechnology venture capital fund in South Africa, will be a pioneer in promoting the development of biotechnology expertise in South Africa and will therefore play a role in creating jobs and attracting skills in the sector as well as help reduce the brain drain of skilled manpower out of South Africa.  The investee firms would develop stronger management teams and business plans and both the Fund and IFC could eventually contribute to the internationalization of successful ventures.  Biotechnology products are considered as easily exportable and therefore could generate hard currency to the national economy.  It is expected that IFC would nominate a Director to the Board of Trustees or Governing Board, and thereby contribute to the corporate governance of the Fund.
Naked Insurance IFC is considering an equity investment into Naked Financial Technology Pty Ltd (Naked or the Company), a full-stack insurtech in South Africa that offers personal-lines auto, home and single item insurance. The investment will be into a holding entity in South Africa that owns 100% of Naked. The most significant, expected Project outcome is increased access of non-life insurance for individual customers in South Africa. Furthermore, the Project is expected to contribute to greater competitiveness in the market, by supporting the growth of an innovative insurtech that focuses on driving insurance digitization.
African Bank Ltd African Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of African Bank Investment Limited (ABIL, the bank , or the company), an investment holding company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa. With total assets in excess of ZAR6 billion, African Bank is the largest unsecured credit provider to the previously considered non-bankable  sector in South Africa. The Bank employs more than 860 people and operates through 221 branches and outlets that are grouped in four geographic regions in South Africa.

The project will consist in purchasing two African Bank Limited (African Bank) debt instruments for up to ZAR29 million (~$4 million) maturing on December 2005 and September 2006. This option was given to IFC in the course of another transaction to compensate for the principal impairment suffered by IFC.
BPL SL II Project The project consists of a 5-year senior (2-year grace period) secured loan of up to ZAR600 million to Business Partners Limited (Business Partners or the Company) to support the Companys financing and development of certified green buildings in South Africa (the Project). Through this investment, IFC will also strengthen Business Partners long-term funding position. The expected Project-level outcome is: increased availability of climate finance (green buildings): The Project will help increase access to climate finance and support Business Partners in its strategy to fund and develop green building projects. Beyond the Project-level outcome, IFC anticipates that the Project will contribute to increased environmental sustainability in South Africa by demonstrating the viability of green building projects, including to small and medium enterprises. Combined with the other initiatives under IFC's programmatic approach to increase climate finance in South Africa, this is expected to raise the awareness of other financial institutions on the promotion and adoption of green building standards.
AEF Tusk Project Management (Pty) Ltd Tusk Project Management (Pty) Ltd. provides contract management services and small working capital loans to emerging building contractors in South Africa. Tusk takes over the administration of the contracts and obtains performance guarantees. This leaves the contractors, usually small, black-owned businesses, free to concentrate on the construction work. To ensure that the contracts are viable, Tusk evaluates each of the contracts before it enters into agreements with the contractors. Most of the contracts are with local authorities for schools, clinics, low cost houses and other public buildings. The contracts are usually awarded under affirmative action programs which makes the service provided by Tusk very valuable as a support for small contractors who do not have elaborate back-office setups. The services provided by the company therefor have a strong developmental impact. Once Tusk is satisfied that the contracts are viable, it signs management contracts. Its fees are usually in the range of 2% to 4% of the value of the contracts. Tusk then makes working capital loans to the contractors equal to 10% of the value of the contracts. Thereafter, up to completion of the contracts, Tusk monitors the procurement of raw materials, advises on the work and organises the claims for payments. It maintains joint bank accounts with the contractors which provides security for the loans and Tusk''s fees. About two thirds of Tusk''s income comes from project management fees and one third from gross interest earned on the loans it advances.   Tusk is operating at a level which, while demonstably profitable, would not attract many private equity investors. Working with small, emerging contractors was not something the consulting engineering industry in South Africa was accostumed to doing. Imali Capital started out as the "venture catalyst" arm of the Theta group which is very focused on microlending. It was seen as very appropriate for it to invest in Tusk. IFC''s role in the next stage of the development of Tusk could be an important catalytic one. The expansion of the business to meet the level of demand is likely to require significantly more capital than has been invested so far. The other potential financiers which have been approached are impressed that IFC may be willing to get involved and share the risks of such a venture. The sponsors regard IFC as an ideal partner from this point of view. On the debt side, it is also difficult to raise lines of credit for a business which has not a lot of hard assets to offer as security. Therefor, there is a strong role for IFC to play as both a financier and a knowledgable partner which would give comfort to the other minority shareholders. Imali Capital is very keen to have other institutional investors on board and to have more than one option when it comes to raising lines of credit.
Firstrand SL The proposed project with FirstRand Bank (FRB), an existing IFC client, is a senior loan of up to US$100 million of which up to US$50 million will be allocated for on-lending to women-owned SMEs and promote Banking on Women (BoW). Project-level development impacts: i) Access to finance: The proposed project will increase access to finance for SMEs and WOE in particular; ii) Job creation: The proposed project is expected to catalyze employment in previously disadvantaged communities.  Market-level impacts and market creation i) Continued support: IFC's investment will send a strong signal of ongoing support and trust in the South African financial market to international investors; ii) Demonstration Effect: The project will have a strong signaling effect and catalyze interest from other South African banks in the IFC SME Push Program and in Banking on Women.