FALL 2010

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GBF at a glance

As of June 30, 2010, GBF has committed:

• 26 investments
• $7 million in capital & technical assistance
• 4.5 million impacted people at the base of the pyramid

The chart below details GBF's portfolio by region:





Below, please find...

Where you can find GBF this fall

A summary of GBF's latest investments from FY10

Introduction to GBF's Challenge Fund



Find GBF at a conference this fall!


To help promote collaboration in the social investing field, GBF will be attending the following conferences this fall. We look forward to learn and share our approach with you!

SOCAP 10 (San Francisco, CA), October 4-6, 2010

2010 Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Annual Conference (Glen Cove, NY), September 29-October 1, 2010

Opportunity Collaboration (Ixtapa, Mexico), October 15-20, 2010



Founded in 1996, BrazAfric Enterprises, Ltd is an importer and distributor of coffee equipment, as well as equipment for grain and seed handling, from Brazil to East Africa. GBF will partner with BrazAfric in the setup and execution of a new vendor financing program, and add value by engaging BrazAfric directly with coffee cooperatives. GBF's transaction includes substantial capacity building, both for BrazAfric, as well as coffee cooperatives.

Established in 1995, Lotus Foods is a specialty rice company that sells heirloom rice from China, Bhutan, Indonesia, Cambodia and Madagascar. Part of Lotus Foods’ mission is to provide sustainable livelihoods to smallholder farmers—the company purchases rice according to fair trade pricing standards. GBF’s investment will help Lotus Foods to reduce its costs by leasing packaging equipment, designing new packaging for SRI products and refreshing its overall brand.

Pwani Feeds processes and sells animal feeds to poultry farmers in Kenya, as well as purchases eggs produced by the farmers and sells them to retailers using a wholesale distribution system. Pwani’s innovative business model provides farmers with reliably high quality feeds and a ready market for egg sales. GBF’s investment is providing Pwani with funding required to set up a new maize milling plant and an egg storage facility, which will allow Pwani to increase the scale of its egg purchases and reach more farmers. GBF is also providing capacity building in a number of important areas.

Servals Automation Private Limited (Servals) is a social enterprise engaged in the manufacture of clean, efficient, and affordable burners and stoves used for cooking. The energy-saving technology is also cost-saving, and it enhances the quality of life of 30,000+ consumers. GBF is providing Servals with a loan to expand its geographic presence in the market, and set up a distribution channel that will bundle its cooking solutions products and help launch the company’s new biomass stove.

Shree Kamdhenu Electronics Private Limited (SKEPL) designs and distributes technology for the dairy industry such as electronic weighing scales, milk analyzers, dairy cooperative accounting software, and automated milk collection systems in rural India. With GBF's investment, SKEPL will finance the sale of these products to village cooperatives that cannot afford existing milk collection systems.

The following investments are a part of GBF's SME Export Facility (SEF):

Geolicrafts Ventures is a Ghanaian producer and exporter of handicrafts. It specializes in African musical instruments including Djembe drums, dondo, and percussion instruments, as well as other craft goods such as Bolga baskets and wood carvings. GBF’s financing is enabling the company to undertake a large order from a German buyer, resulting in a busier workshop, more employees, and more purchases of wood, straw, and other materials from smallholder farmers.

Higher Ground Development Corporation (HGDC) is a coffee producer and exporter in Tanzania which grows its own coffee and buys from local farmers and cooperatives. GBF has provided HGDC with a working capital loan, which will finance two orders from roasters in North America, enabling HGDC to purchase raw materials for the upcoming coffee season before receiving payments from this season’s exports.



Introducing the GBF Challenge Fund

GBF is earmarking up to $150,000 to pilot the Challenge Fund to support the capacity building needs of high impact social enterprises. The fund will award grants of $10,000 - $15,000 per proposal to support the development of tools and approaches by the enterprises themselves (with the assistance of outside expert consultants) to address needs which are integral to their business strategy and future growth.

In the pilot stage, the Challenge Fund will seek to support the capacity building needs of GBF’s clients, and will focus primarily in these three technical areas with an emphasis on tools that will be applicable for multiple enterprises. In the first stage the applicants will be evaluated by an internal selection committee of GBF managers, GBF’s advisors, and potentially representatives of GBF’s investment portfolio. While the fund will initially just address GBF investees, the intent is to reach out to others and seek to broaden the participants, depending on the results of the first stage.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis with awards made on the following dates: September 30, 2010, January 31, 2011, and May 27, 2011.

>> Click here to read more about GBF's Challenge Fund

Quick links:

Grassroots Business Fund

GBF Portfolio, 2010

GBF's Challenge Fund