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Jan 18, 2019

The Unseen Sector: A Report on the MSME Opportunity in South Africa

Building small businesses that contribute to the economy and create jobs is one of South Africa’s biggest development opportunities. Small enterprises employ between 50 and 60 percent of South Africa’s work force and contribute around 34 percent of GDP. However, the small business sector has been relatively stagnant over the last decade, and only 14% of the country’s small businesses are formalized, capping their job creation and economic contribution potential. “The Unseen Sector” is a joint report between the World Bank and International Finance Corporation providing an in-depth assessment of the micro, small and medium enterprise landscape in South Africa and opportunities to support the sector’s growth. The report measures the small business sector size and illustrates key barriers small businesses face in terms of access to finance, access to skills and access to markets in South Africa.

English | 124 pages | 2019 IFC

Jan 17, 2019

Crops Receipts—A New Financing Instrument For Africa

Crops Receipts—A New Financing Instrument For Africa

English | 84 pages | 2019 | IFC/FAO

Jan 16, 2019

Blockchain and Associated Legal Issues for Emerging Markets

Blockchain is an emerging technology that enables direct transactions within a ledger without need for a central authority or trusted intermediary. In emerging markets, it has the potential to re-engineer economic models and enable the creation of markets and products previously unavailable or unprofitable. But organizations considering its use must also consider the risks and how they can be managed. These include jurisdictional challenges, crypto assets, privacy and data protection, double spending, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

English | 8 pages - January- Note 63 | IFC 2019

Jan 15, 2019

日本と共に歩むIFCー開発に向けて協働するパートナー

IFCは様々な面で日本と協力関係にあります。開発に向けて協働するパートナーである日本の協力についてご紹介します。

Jan 8, 2019

Service Performance Guarantees for Public Utilities and Beyond—An Innovation with Potential to Attract Investors to Emerging Markets

Emerging market countries require substantial foreign investment for development, economic growth, and poverty alleviation. There are multiple challenges to attracting this investment, however, ranging from political and economic instability to corruption, poor security, and small market size. An additional challenge is inadequate delivery of key services like electricity and other utilities that private firms and investors rely on. Service performance guarantees are a promising approach to addressing this issue. These guarantees enable firms to purchase protection against poor or insufficient service delivery, and they may work particularly well in industrial or export processing zones by ensuring that shortfalls in service delivery are measured, reported, and addressed in a timely manner.

English | 8 pages - January - Note 62 | IFC 2019

Dec 20, 2018

Request for Expression of Interest

IFC is issuing this request for expressions of interest to identify an implenting partner for the KKCF in Turkana County, Kenya.

Dec 17, 2018

IFC年次報告書 2018

Dec 17, 2018

Case Study—Packages Limited. Advancing Gender Diversity through Equal Opportunity Recruitment Practices

Packages Limited, a manufacturing company in Pakistan, conducted an employee engagement survey and revealed the need to ramp up gender diversity efforts. This case study explores the business benefits resulting from the implementation of equal opportunity recruitment practices to increase gender diversity. Between 2016 and 2017, when the practices were first introduced, and 2018, the number of female job applicants for each position doubled.

English | 12 pages | IFC

Dec 17, 2018

Case Study—National Foods Limited. Retaining Top Talent through Family-Friendly Policies

National Foods Limited is a food manufacturing company in Pakistan. This case study explores NFL’s business benefits that resulted from implementing family-friendly policies, including an on-site daycare facility and flexible work, as part of the company’s goals of becoming an equal opportunity employer. Since the launch of family-friendly policies, the company has achieved a 100% maternity return rate and a 65% increase in the number of women in its workforce.

English | 12 pages | IFC

Dec 17, 2018

Case Study—Interloop Limited. Advancing Women in Non-Traditional Roles

This case study discusses the business impacts that Interloop, a hosiery manufacturing company in Pakistan, obtained after recruiting and retaining female STEM graduates in nontraditional job roles. By creating an equal opportunity work environment, Interloop has been able to strengthen and maintain relationships with its key international buyers, reduce absenteeism and attrition rates, and increase productivity.

English | 12 pages | IFC

Dec 17, 2018

Case Study—HBL Pakistan. Advancing Gender Diversity through Effective Anti-Harassment Mechanisms

HBL, the largest bank in Pakistan, implemented a zero tolerance anti-harassment policy and realized this is a key element to achieving gender diversity by enhancing perceptions of safety and security for female and male employees. HBL has seen a steady increase in the share of women in its workforce, from 12.6% in 2015 to 15% in 2017. This case study explores HBL’s business impacts of creating a safe workplace.

English | 12 pages | IFC

Dec 17, 2018

Case Study—Artistic Milliners. Advancing Women in Business Leadership & Management

This case study highlights how Artistic Milliners, a denim manufacturing company in Pakistan, is strengthening its female talent pipeline and differentiating from competitors by achieving a 50:50 ratio of women and men in senior management positions. Women in leadership positions have steered their respective departments toward success. The company has seen a 70% increase in sales in the U.K. denim market as well as improved performance in the female-headed supply chain department, translating to savings of almost $2 million.

English | 12 pages | IFC

Dec 13, 2018

Newsletter: Corporate Governance Updates - July-September 2018

Quarterly newsletter that highlights IFC's corporate governance work around the world, including news and events, latest indicators, media coverage, reports and publications.

Dec 12, 2018

Goodlife Pharmacy

Goodlife Pharmacy offers safe, high-quality medicine to consumers in Kenya and Uganda, including lower-income 'emerging consumers'. Ultimately, Goodlife aims to become a health hub—a one-stop-shop to meet basic primary health care needs through pharmaceuticals and health care services. In the four years since it was founded in 2014, Goodlife has become East Africa’s largest pharmacy chain.

Dec 12, 2018

Report—Tackling Childcare in Sri Lanka: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

The report, Tackling Childcare in Sri Lanka highlights how employer-supported childcare can yield business benefits and how it can be a win-win-win for employees, children and communities. The report shows how 10 Sri Lankan employers provide their employees with childcare-related benefits in a variety of ways.

English | 100 pages | IFC

Dec 10, 2018

Women in Business Leadership Boost ESG Performance: Existing Body of Evidence Makes Compelling Case

Private Sector Opinion 42: This paper explores the existing body of research linking a higher proportion of women in business leadership—including on boards of directors and in senior management—to better overall company performance.

Dec 7, 2018

Business Case Update: Lower NPLs for Women-Led SMEs

A recent survey conducted with IFC banking clients sheds light on the potential size and financial performance of women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and why financial institutions should pay attention to this segment

English

Dec 7, 2018

SEA of the Hydropower Sector in Myanmar Resources Page

To advance the sustainability of Myanmar’s hydropower sector, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and the Ministry of Electricity and Energy with the support from IFC and the Australian government commenced a country-wide Strategic Environmental Assessment of the hydropower sector. The SEA takes a basin-wide approach to understand the effects on environmental and social values across Myanmar’s primary river basins. Selected resources and materials presented and published during the SEA process are listed here.

Dec 3, 2018

Good Practice Note: Managing Risks Associated with Modern Slavery

This Good Practice Note supports the private sector in the fight against modern slavery by providing companies in emerging markets the tools to identify and manage potential risks proactively.

80 pages | © December 2018 IFC, CDC Group Plc, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) | Complimentary

Nov 30, 2018

Private Equity and Venture Capital's Role in Catalyzing Sustainable Investment

The report suggests several specific options to increase the role of private equity and venture capital funds in mobilizing sustainable finance, including the establishment of incubators/accelerators for sustainable startups, among other suggestions.

50 pages | © November 2018 IFC | Complimentary

Nov 29, 2018

Climate Investment Opportunities in Cities - An IFC Analysis

As cities work to meet the needs of their residents, they can leapfrog historical approaches to urbanization – which creates significant opportunities for climate investment. This report finds that cities in emerging markets around the globe have the potential to attract more than $29.4 trillion in cumulative climate-related investments in six key sectors by 2030.

English | 158 pages | 2018 IFC

Nov 27, 2018

IFC SME Ventures: Investing in Private Equity in Sub-Saharan African Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations

This report, researched in partnership with CrossBoundary LLC, highlights the critical success factors when investing in fragile states, as well as existing innovations being developed by current investors. While the challenges of investing in FCS are well known, the most effective approaches and factors required for success are still being explored.

English | 68 pages | 2018 IFC

Nov 26, 2018

Using Blockchain to Enable Cleaner, Modern Energy Systems in Emerging Markets

Emerging markets must attract significant international financing to meet their goals for mitigating carbon pollution and increasing access to clean, affordable, reliable, and resilient energy. The authors of this note examine how blockchain technology can—if paired with smart, interconnected devices—promote needed investments by both improving investment processes and promoting the adoption of modern energy systems and business models. Given the nascent status of both blockchain technology and blockchain applications specific to the energy sector, this note offers guidance to better assess where and how to apply blockchain technology to achieve a modern, clean, energy future including in emerging markets.

English | 8 pages - November - Note 61 | IFC 2018

Nov 15, 2018

CASE STUDY: Georgia Healthcare Group

Georgia Healthcare Group: Making Modern Healthcare Affordable in a Small Country

English | 30 pages | November 2018 | IFC

Nov 14, 2018

グリーンボンド・インパクト・レポート（2018年度）

今回で4回目となるグリーンボンドプログラムに関する年次レポートの日本語訳です。2018年度の最新データまで掲載しています。