Cofinancing especially in low-income countries

Finnfund collaborates closely with other European development financiers. Especially in projects characterized by large scale and/or significant risks, it may be advisable to share risks and the burden of project preparation and monitoring. Natural partners for this are other public development financiers that also share similar objectives and business principles.

Along with fourteen other development financiers, Finnfund is a member of EDFI, the Association of European Development Finance Institutions. Within the group we share information on cofinancing opportunities, target markets and best practices are shared.

Most of Finnfund’s investments in low-income countries involve cofinancing with other development financiers. We have collaborated extensively with the other Nordic development financiers (Swedfund, Norfund, and Danish IFU) as well as with our Dutch, British, German, Belgian, Swiss and French counterparts (FMO, CDC, DEG, BIO, Sifem and Proparco respectively).

In addition, Finnfund participates in European Financing Partners (EFP), which is a sizable cofinancing scheme between European Investment Bank and EDFI.

In 2011 Agence Française de Développement AFD, European Investment Bank, Finnfund and other ten EDFI members established the Interact Climate Change Facility ICCF, which provides long-term financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in poor countries suffering from energy shortages.

Team Finland

The Team Finland network promotes Finland's external economic relations and country brand, the internationalisation of Finnish companies as well as foreign investment directed at Finland. Its aim is to intensify cooperation between Finnish players in these sectors.

The core of the Team Finland network consists of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as the publicly funded organizations and overseas networks whose performance they oversee. The Team Finland network is steered by the Government. More than 70 local teams around the world handle its activities abroad.

Finnfund’s mission is to promote economic and social development in its target countries through investments in the private sector. Catalysing Finnish know-how for projects in developing countries is Finnfund’s main niche. We seek to invest in win-win-win projects that bring local and Finnish parties together while also improving the environment. Clean technologies ranging from energy efficiency and renewable energy to waste management and recycling are a sector where Finnish companies have invested heavily over the decades becoming global leaders in a number of sub-sectors. They also are a prime example of an area, where we, together with the other members of Team Finland wish to make a difference.