Above all, we would like to congratulate the 2,300 “clickers”, much more if we count those “outside LinkedIn” and in particular those who commented on https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6255675757557874688/
JAMBO FUND FOR AFRICA isn’t business as usual and indeed isn’t just financing but much more. It is a new way to approach the market. As a matter of statement, we elaborated on the message from the international financial establishment, at least how we detected it. This the best way to innovate: to introduce something new in a mechanism already in use.
The reasoning behind the display has synthesised the idea that justifies why and how to sustain the entrepreneurship. Bankers/Financiers did it over centuries and the importance of financing business doesn’t need to be explained.
However, under the particular circumstances, the Exhibit (not yet the final one) show up how to make interventions in favour of entrepreneurship in the emerging economy and in so doing make a tangible impact on the communities. We went through three basic documents: the UN 2030 AGENDA for SDGs, in particular, the Goal 8: “Promote inclusive and sustainable growth” (www.un.org.) along with BASEL III Committee ( http://www.bis.org ) and CGAP http://www.cgap.org/publications/new-funder-guidelines-market-systems-approach-financial-inclusion.
In our understanding, there has been a repositioning by the international financial establishment on development finance issues, because in the past the importance of the term sustainability hasn’t been emphasised as a key factor that should inform all development finance interventions. Over decades the development interventions focused on credit, sometimes easy going to credit at the grassroots level, on the assumption that everybody has the right to get it; but this isn’t true because credit means confidence and it is sanctioned when the applicant is eligible for it and it is a lender discretion. This doesn’t mean that the financial leverage to the business isn’t important; on the contrary, it is vital, on condition to use it according to the eligibility criteria. This hasn’t been all time applied and the abuse and misuse of credit have caused the financial implosions we witnessed in many countries.
This can be achieved with a credit model and following an appropriate market segmentation, as it has been widely discussed in the iBook FINANCIAL INCLUSION, Give people a job, not a loan, https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1116912686, which contents are the reasoning behind of the proposed ground activities.
In the wave of digitalization, the proposed approach is of utmost importance because the question isn’t to provide people with a smart mobile phone or WhatsApp, but to have people eligible for its use. There are two ways to understand digitalization: product innovation and process innovation. The former when we simply provide the client with an electronic device, the latter when the electronic device adds value to the service and creates opportunities, because without economic inclusion there will be no real inclusive inclusion.
In this context, we have proposed a new approach moving from CREDIT-BASED ECONOMY to COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMY. thus re-designing the entire architecture of the intervention in favour of poor people and small business as well, and shift the theoretical paradigm of the financial system from over indebted economy at micro and macro level to a real people’s empowerment via jobs creation and promote opportunities.
We don’t say to restore the Keynesian theory, we do say that the role of finance in the economy has been dominant at macro and micro level, to detriment of the real economy, on the wrong assumption that poverty is a lender task instead of a government duty.
Moving from above reasoning we have designed a RISK FUND FOR AFRICA as a business way to empower viable enterprises at both Start-up and Grow-up stage, on the grounds that there is a market worth $ 1.5 billion and JAMBO FUND has been designed to take these opportunities. Who does what and how? https://ascaniograziosi.net/2017/02/28/jambo-fund-who-does-what-and-how/
We said “elaborated” on above documents that inspired our work. But we did it borrowing from our extensive field experience dated over three decades in twenty-eight Countries and in the following ones we designed, managed and evaluated Credit Guarantee Fund/ Trust Fund/ Grant Facility/ Revolving Fund: Tunisia, Bosnia, Caribbean (St. Lucia), Romania, Mali, Albania, Netherlands Antilles (Curacao), Malawi, Algeria, Morocco, Ghana and Russia Federation. In other words, experience and expertise are a necessary background to run these kind of business, which ask for accumulated daily exposure to evaluate credit and financial risks.
JAMBO will be proposed soon as a FINANCE START-UP. Fundraising Managers are invited to join the campaign. Investors, Funding Agencies, Corporate Finance and Venture Capitalists may contact us for additional information: https://ascaniograziosi.net
Ascanio Graziosi 