Financial Inclusion Fund

Thematic Area:	Financial Inclusion & Microfinance
Duration:	2008 – ongoing
Client:	Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau / FPM
Region:	Africa
Country Coverage:	Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Project Overview

This project supports the development and management of the Financial Inclusion Fund (FPM) through its different stages. It aims to professionalise the Congolese (micro-)finance sector through an independent sector support structure and provide finance and technical assistance to reliable financial service providers (FSPs) – such as banks, microfinance institutions and cooperatives, which target micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) nation-wide.

Copyright FPM 2016, https://fpm.cd/en/

Frankfurt School (FS) has supported FPM since its early days. The assistance started with a study advising the institutionalisation of FPM by converting a component of a Microfinance Sector Support Programme into a non-profit organisation in 2010 (FPM ASBL). FS has since supported the management team of FPM with advice on organisational development, technical assistance and training, and financing of FSPs.

To boost funding activities, a spin-off that created a separate entity (FPM SA) was authorised by the Central Bank of Congo in 2014. The Frankfurt School expert team continued to serve as advisor to FPM’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) until 2019 where it provided TAF with management services and recruited technical assistance (TA) consultants.

From 2019 to 2021, Frankfurt School’s role has transitioned towards advising the board and management team of the FPM TAF across multiple complex topics: from strategic and procedural issues to consultant recruitment and capacity building. With the support of Frankfurt School, FPM TAF has delivered 180 TA projects to 25 FSPs, representing approximately USD 15 million to address institution building and special product development for Congolese FSPs, which now reach more than 0.3 million credit and 1.8 million deposit clients.

Learn more about the project from its official website - www.fpm.cd/en/.