Medical Credit Fund selected for ImpactAssets 50 2013

Amsterdam, October 28, 2013 – The IA 50, now in its third year, is the first publically available database of private debt and equity impact investment fund managers.

The IA 50 serves as a gateway for those interested in achieving social and/or environmental, as well as financial, returns on their investments. Fund managers included in the IA 50 2013 manage a combined USD 10.8 billion in assets within the impact investing market.

‘We feel extremely honored to have been included in the ImpactAssets 50 and to be a part of this innovative tool for impact investors seeking profitable social investment opportunities,’ says Medical Credit Fund’s managing director Monique Dolfing-Vogelenzang.

The IA 50 includes a broad range of organizations spanning domestic and international geographies, sectors, asset classes and impact areas. Firms were chosen based on experience, impact, and with an eye toward reflecting the diversity of impact investment opportunities. The selection committee was chaired by ImpactAssets’ Chief Impact Strategist, Jed Emerson, and included experts from the CAPROCK Group, Eirene, Haas Business School, Labrador Ventures, Toniic, and UBS.

The IA 50 2013, along with additional details on the selection process, are available at: http://www.impactassets.org/impactassets-50.

About Medical Credit Fund
The Medical Credit Fund was founded by PharmAccess in 2009. It is a non-profit health investment fund with a vision to make good quality basic health care accessible in sub-Saharan Africa. African governments and major donor organizations are starting to recognize that, when it comes to health care, the private sector has an important role in complementing the public system. However, private health small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in many African settings lack access to capital, as investment risks are often considered too high. Medical Credit Fund prepares these SMEs for securing loans from the local capital market, under the condition that they enter a comprehensive technical assistance program for quality improvement and business planning.

The Medical Credit Fund program is designed to build capacity and works towards making health SMEs bankable. What makes the Fund especially innovative is its ‘layered capital’ structure. By using philanthropic capital to leverage funding from private and public sources, the MCF is able to increase its developmental impact significantly. By the end of September 2013, the Medical Credit Fund had disbursed over USD 3.3 million in loans to 380 health care facilities that are visited by around 500,000 patients per month.

Demand for loans and technical assistance by these facilities continues to grow. Impressive loan repayment rates have alerted banks to the Medical Credit Fund’s business proposition, enabling the MCF to expand its network of partner banks. Clinics are benefitting from the chance to upgrade their facility. A year into their loan, they report a 15% average increase in patient visits. By 2018 the Fund aims to disburse 3000 loans with a total value of around USD 70 million.

About ImpactAssets
ImpactAssets is a nonprofit financial services firm that increases the flow of capital into investments that deliver financial, social, and environmental returns.  ImpactAssets’ donor advised fund (‘The Giving Fund’), impact investment notes, and field building initiatives enable philanthropists, other asset owners, and their wealth advisors to advance social or environmental change through investment.