For those of you who are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), there is an interesting financial tool you might want to consider for your projects. It is called Business Partnership Facility (BPF) Enterprises for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is a financial support for private sector involvement contributing to SDGs in developing countries. It is funded by the Belgian Cooperation.
WHAT BPF SUPPORT
- Entrepreneurial initiative contributing to at least one SDG
- Partnership consisting of at least one business entity
- Core business of the business partner(s)
- Project located in country on BIO’s list of 52 developing countries
- No focus on sector
HOW BPF SUPPORT
- Non-refundable funding of up to 50% of the total investment
- BPF funding between €50,000 and €200,000
- Through continuous call for projects between 2019-2023; two rounds of selections per year with a yearly budget of €2mio
- Initiated and funded by DGD
- Operational management by King Baudouin Foundation (KBF)
TARGET PROJECTS
- Must contribute to the achievement of at least one SDG in developing countries
- Profitable business initiative
- A partnership that brings together different actors from the private sector, civil society, academia and / or the public sector in the North and South
- Partners may be Belgian, European or international legal entities, under public or private law
- The project must be part of the ‘core business’ of a business partnera involved
ELIGIBLE AND FOCUS COUNTRIES
Sub Saharan Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
Latin America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru.
Mekong/South East Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam.
Middle East & North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine territories, Syria, Tunisia.
Preference will go to projects in Africa and in particular in one of the 14 partner countries of the Belgian Development Cooperation (marked in orange).
EVALUATION CRITERIA
BPF funded projects must demonstrate their social impact and economic viability.
- Social impact
- Number of full-time jobs (equivalents) created and maintained (by sex)
- Improved average income for low-income families
- Affordable goods and services for low-income people (by sex)
- Inclusion and economic progress of low-income women and youth
- Positive impact on the environment by saving natural resources, reducing carbon emissions and preserving biodiversity, etc.
- Economic viability
- Partnerships must clearly demonstrate how the supported initiatives will
- Become sustainable
- Show competitive financial performance
- Show signs of scalability and replication potential
Submitted projects are evaluated based on clear criteria listed below:
- Development effects
- Sustainability
- Innovation (product and/or process)
- Reproducibility and Scalability
- Additionality
- Efficiency
- Impact on the sector and/or the market
- Experience and capacity of the beneficiary
- Degree of co-financing
- Inclusiveness
- Synergy and complementarity with other projects/stakeholders
PROJECTS FUNDING DETAILS
Selected BPF projects receive non-refundable funding between €50,000 and €200,000
- BPF funds between €50,000 and €200,000, up to 50% of the total investment
- This implies total project budget must be larger than €100,000 and at least 50% funded by partners
- The budget provided by the partners must be a cash contribution (no valuation of pre-existing assets)
- Co-financing can be provided by various private sector companies that submit a joint application for the project
- Loans from financial institutions can be considered part of co-financing
- A total of €12 Mio is available for 5 years
ADDITIONAL ADVISORY PROVIDED
- BPF funded consultants can be mobilized at the request of the project leader of the partnership, depending on the bottlenecks that may arise during the implementation of the project
- A maximum of 7 man days of consulting will be granted per year of implementation of the project
- The BPF will finance the consultants’ fees, while all expenses (air tickets, accommodation, food, travel, etc.) will be borne by the grantees
For companies who have projects eligible for the funding, a call is currently open until September 7th, 2020. Submit your files to the King Baudouin Foundation.
