Defeating Global Poverty

Unitus announced last week that they’ve raised a US$23 million private equity fund to invest in microfinance. I was able to catch up with Chris Brookfield, Director of Unitus Equity Fund, last week to find out more about this announcement.

Dave: What is Unitus announcing today?
Chris: Unitus is announcing the closing the Unitus Equity Fund (UEF). UEF is formed just like the other venture funds I have been a part of. The difference is that UEF is committed to investing into sustainable microfinance enterprises. It is our hope that by demonstrating that microfinance can scale rapidly and produce returns for investors that much greater amount of investment capital will follow. By increasing the capital available to microfinance companies, we increase the number of borrowers that can be served. So each new investment dollar in will translate to a new opportunity for a poor person to become an entrepreneur.

The 'close' means that we have exceeded our goal and will now be focused 100% on finding new MFI's to invest into. We closed on $23 million.

Dave: What are Unitus' key objectives for UEF?
Chris: We have 5 key objectives:

1. Demonstrate that non-profit microfinance banks can transform into sustainable commercial companies.
2. Show that 'professional' investors are willing to invest in microfinance.
3. Begin the formation of microfinance as an investable asset class.
4. Attract larger, upstream investors to the space, and
5. In the end, show the microfinance is a dynamic, high growth business and that the poor are an attractive market for future investment.

Dave: What is unique and ground-breaking about this announcement?
Chris: There a couple of firsts (as far as we know):

• UEF is the first equity fund in microfinance to be financed 100% in the private market. Most others have capital provided by development agencies and the like. This distinction is important because of the UEF's more 'professional' the investors, our results will have better demonstration effect and be more relevant to other professional investors.
• We are taking a unique venture capital portfolio approach. Our intention is to partner with the best managers in microfinance and encourage them to innovate and grow rapidly.
• The UEF is global in scope, but focused on India, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia and Pakistan.
• The UEF is a pioneer in creating a hybrid socially responsible investment vehicle that is also managed for risk appropriate returns.

Dave: How are the UEF monies going to be invested?
Chris: The UEF will invest in 8-10 microfinance companies and allocate $2-3 million per company. More than 50% of the companies will be in India, with the rest spread amongst other countries.

Dave: UEF has already made some investments. Can you please describe a couple of those and what impact you are expecting?
Chris: Our investees are SKS (India), Ujjivan (India) and Credex (Mexico). Overall, Unitus has chosen to partner with these MFIs because of the potential for very high growth. You can see some of the detailed goals on Unitus’ web site.

Dave: Who are the investors in UEF and why they have invested?
Chris: The UEF investors break out into roughly 4 groups each contributing about 25% of the capital:

• Unitus board members and friends.
• Omidyar Networks, the investment vehicle of Pierre Omidyar.
• Professional investors who are leaders in technology VC, private equity and health care.
• A group of socially responsible investors managed by Abacus Wealth Management.

Dave: Some people think that for-profit microfinance is (or can be) predatory or immoral ... that is, earning returns for wealthy investors from the financial services provided to the working poor? How do you respond to this?
Chris: I believe that investors of all types need to practice the highest ethical standards in all that they do. The investors in UEF, its management and our Investment Committee are deeply committed to sustainable investing that will create ongoing opportunities for people in all of the markets we invest.

To this end, UEF places a strong emphasis on valuing its investment on a basis of the long term health of the underlying customer bases. Our banks can only do well they customers and communities do well. That's really our bottom line.

Profits means that microfinance is sustainable in the long term. Not hostage to the whims of political agenda or the grace of donors. If microfinance can continue to grow sustainably, then it will be able to attract investment from the global capital sources. This is the only way microfinance will be able to serve the 2 billion people who need it.

Dave: Why do you like working with Unitus and the UEF?
Chris: This has been one of the most rewarding challenges of my life. It is not easy to raise money for an industry most people have never even thought exists or to make investments in multiple countries. While my international travel regimen is quite grueling, I am very energized. I can't wait to see how the story of microfinance develops and what role our investments will play.

Labels: brookfield, equity, interview, microfinance, poverty, social investing, uef, unitus, venture capital

In a previous post on for-profit microfinance, I summarized some of the benefits that I see for the poor in the trend for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to become for-profit entities rather than the traditional non-profit entity model. One of the key aspects of a for-profit entity is the ability to sell ownership shares to investors to raise capital.

I caught up (via email) with Geoff Woolley, a very experienced venture capitalist (Dominion Ventures, European Venture Partners, MACC Private Equity and more) and an early pioneer in microfinance equity. Geoff currently chairs the Capital Markets Committee on the board of Unitus, an innovative global microfinance accelerator. He was very involved in setting up the Unitus Equity Fund ... one of the first private-money-only private equity funds exclusively focused on investing in start-up MFIs.

Dave: Geoff, first, what is your background related to investing equity capital in companies?

Geoff: I have been a venture capitalist all my professional career and founded both a US and European private equity firm. Through myself and my firms, I have invested in hundreds of growth companies ... both start ups and expansion stage companies.

Dave: What experience have you had in making equity investments in MFIs?

Geoff: Investing direct equity rather than making grants or giving loans to MFI’s is relatively new. My experience has been over the last few years with assisting in structuring the financing of the Unitus partners. With the new Unitus Equity Fund, we work exactly as most private equity firms. My “non profit job” and my regular job are almost alike except with Unitus I know my efforts help thousands of poor women and their families in a small way.

Dave: It seems like there is still a lot of confusion about why MFIs need equity investments. Why not just give them donations/grants or give them loans?

Geoff: The key word is sustainability. Essentially, if an MFI does not learn to become profitable, most donors will grow tired over time of supporting their financial needs. The best way to think about MFI’s are as small start up banks. If a wealthy bank founder provided all initial capital and continues to support the bank without taking equity or a loan note, potential new lenders or investors would not be able to assess the banks profitability or sustainability. This “free capital” would never appear on financial statements. By treating an MFI like most start up companies, lenders and new investors will more easily understand the MFI and its progress. With MFI’s, profitability is a measure of effectiveness rather than strictly making money. Capitalism and social purpose are well aligned.

Dave: How do MFIs grow their equity base?

Geoff: The same way as banks do. They raise more equity (by issuing and selling shares) or reinvest profits from their operations. In MFI’s that are licensed to collect savings from clients, these saving accounts help increase the MFI’s capital base which enables it to borrow less from outside lenders.

Dave: There is talk about some MFIs reaching the limit of how much they can borrow. What are those limits and how does equity impact lifting those limits?

Geoff: Reaching borrowing limits could relate to either market saturation or an inadequate capital base. In most microfinance markets, the need of the poor for capital is far from saturated. I hope someday to see the "problem" of oversupply of capital for the poor since it means poverty will be reduced significantly. Most MFI’s reach limits based upon their equity or capital base. Both banking regulators and an MFI’s lenders set limits in terms of the amount of debt that a MFI can have outstanding in proportion to the amount of equity they have built up on their balance sheet. For example, if an MFI wanted to borrow $5,000,000 from a state bank to make its small $100 loans, the lending bank might require $20 of equity for every $100 of loan it will provide to the MFI. This would be a 5-to-1 capital base requirement and the MFI would need $1,000,000 in equity or capital to borrow the requested $5,000,000. With many MFI’s expanding their number of borrowers by more than 100% per year, more borrowing and proportionate equity is required.

Dave: What are some of the additional benefits to MFIs of having equity infusions?
Geoff: The most important positive factor for a MFI is independence and being the masters of their own destiny. Management can plan for the future without outside factors such a grants being cut or reduced. Being able to plan and understand your resources is key to the success of any growth companies including MFIs.

Dave: Are there any downsides to MFIs in taking outside equity capital?

Geoff: Even in the US, we practice a “modified” capitalist economy where regulators, investors, voters and many other constituents impact and constrain the market system. Similar "guardrails" are required in microfinance to ensure it keeps its focus on the unbanked sector. Social guidelines and priorities need to be prioritized against pure profit decisions. For example, the cost to transact a $100 loan versus a $500 loan is the nearly the same. Therefore, a MFI could become more profitable if it moved to making $500 loans to increase profits. In such a case, the social benefit of making loans to the poorest women should be prioritized before maximizing profits. For instance, these social safeguards are outlined and documented in Unitus Equity Fund's equity investments to ensure MFI management keeps their focus on the targeted unbanked poor. A balanced approach of social good and sustainable operations is key to the Unitus mission.

Labels: equity, interview, microfinance, poverty, venture capital