Micro, small, and medium enterprises get boost from SDG Impact Facility
A total of 32 fledgeling and aspiring local entrepreneurs received N$2.5 million worth of grant funding on Tuesday.
The funding comes from the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals Impact Facility (SDGIF), a multi-stakeholder financial and capacity building platform, that bridges entrepreneurship, social innovation, and blended capital to create sustainable economic and social returns.
The SDGIF was created in partnership with the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade (MIT) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Namibia and supported by the facilities finance partner Standard Bank Namibia and grant facility manager Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF).
Speaking at the event the Deputy Executive Director of MIT, Michael Humavindu said that by harnessing the comparative advantage and working within the context of their respective mandates, the ministry can collectively make significant progress towards realizing Namibia’s vision 2030 and our growth at home strategy.
According to Humavindu, the SDG Impact Facility provides competitive catalytic funding to Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSME) with commercially viable businesses in targeted economic sectors.
Environmental Investment Fund CEO, Benedict Libanda, said the grant handover ceremony follows the first of three calls for proposals which will be issued during the first phase of the SDGIF. The current window focuses on companies in agriculture, nutraceuticals and artisans. Window 2 (manufacturing and sustainable tourism) and 3 (renewable energy and IT) will be launched in March and July respectively.
“We recognise that there is misalignment of financing mechanism and development priorities. Henc the fund sees this opportunity to engance private sector through the SDGs to enhance the impact of the private sector growth on all the dimensions of the 2030 Agenda. We are happy to note that the UNDP is supporting the government to implement integrated national financing frameworks which brings together public and private finance policy and institutions. We are very much excited to be part of this important initiative. We hope that this go beyond the three windows and be a permanent intiative,” he said.
