Swiss Partners
Venture South International, Versoix
www.venturesouth.net
George Pett
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Documentation
Swiss Contribution
Venture South International (VSI) is a lending company, which focuses on the niche above microfinance and below bank loan sizes. VSI has many years of experience in providing financial services to small and medium-sized companies in the Philippines, Colombia, Kenya and Uganda.
Description
For most developing countries, increasing agricultural production is essential for achieving food security and generating jobs and income to reduce poverty. Access to capital, in the form of capital goods (productive equipment), financing and skills, is the key to increase agricultural output. Solar powered solutions exist for productive equipment in agriculture (water pumps, drying, milling, egg incubators, fishing lights etc.). This project has targeted the financing of smallholder farmers and solar product distribution companies serving smallholder farmers, in order to accelerate the adoption of solar productive use equipment.
Results
During the project, it became apparent that there is a great need and demand for not only solar-powered equipment for agriculture and small businesses, but also for solar systems for electrification of schools. This is why Venture South International (VSI) decided to finance school projects as well. In spite of COVID-19 restrictions, the project was successfully implemented, although with some delay.
Impacts
The project generated a total of over CHF 400,000 in loans, which will be used again for new loans following repayment. The approximately 1,200 small solar applications save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per year by replacing inefficient fossil fuel applications. The project has created 160 new jobs. 3,460 people are direct beneficiaries of the project, while 17,300 people are indirect beneficiaries.