Accion International

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Nov 15, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$70,090,322

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Global investments: accion provides early-stage equity, quasi-equity financing and loan guarantees to help mfis become independent of donor funds, build their capital base, attract deposits and attain financial leverage to expand their reach. Accion also extends standby letters of credit to microfinance institutions through its global bridge fund. Together, these financing tools provide critically needed capital for young institutions working in challenging markets where such funding is typically unavailable. In addition, accion's frontier investments group, founded in 2008, makes equity investments in non-mfi companies that produce technologies, products and services designed to radically enhance the efficiency, reach and scope of products and services for the unbanked. Since its inception, frontier has made investments in nine early-stage companies that serve the base of the economic pyramid, for a total investment of $12.8m. In 2012 alone, frontier made early-stage investments in such promising young companies such as tiaxa, a mobile services provider in chile that gives prepaid phone users instantaneous access to 'nanoloans', and in shubham, which offers mortgages for quality, affordable housing to low-income clients in india. Frontier also invested in 2012 in zoona (formerly mtz) a mobile payments business in zambia, zimbabwe and mozambique that is transforming the way people and organizations transact business by reducing reliance on cash. Complementing frontier investments group is accion's venture lab, a new $10m seed-stage impact-investment initiative. Launched in early 2012, venture lab is also designed to support start-ups focused on creating financial products and services to expand financial inclusion for the base of pyramid, though start-ups at an earlier, more critical stage, when they are normally considered 'pre-investable' when a product or service is ready to test the market but has not yet proved its ability to generate revenue. Venture lab typically makes investments of $100,000 to $500,000; it closed its first investment in 2012, for $300,000, and had closed six more by q3 2013.

Activity 3

Center for financial inclusion: accion launched the center for financial inclusion in 2008 to foster creative solutions that address the industry's key challenges. The center works collaboratively with microfinance institutions, international networks, regulators, investors and the private sector to develop ideas, research, and public campaigns designed to benefit the industry and its clients. In 2009 the center launched the smart campaign, a global effort to foster consumer protection and to certify those mfis that incorporate client-protection principles in their work. To date, more than 3,800 signatories, consisting of microfinance institutions, networks, associations, donors, investors, supporting organizations and individuals from more than 130 countries, have endorsed the campaign; those institutions today collectively serve over 65 million microfinance clients. The center also directs the ambitious financial inclusion 2020 initiative, a global movement designed to mobilize public and private stakeholders around the achievement of full financial inclusion, using the year 2020 as a focal point for action.

Filer

EIN

13-2535763