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Finnfund blog

Finnfund blog consists of articles by our experts and guest stars on various themes around development finance, developing countries and sustainable investing aiming to find solutions to global challenges.

Gender-based violence and harassment can be difficult to identify

Lauri Etelämäki

Gender analysis is an integral part of each investment decision at Finnfund, and one of the aspects that we aim to mitigate is the possibility of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the potential investee company. It is one of the most harmful forms of gender inequality and unfortunately affects millions of women and girls […]

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CFO insight into Q3 2023

Olli Sinnemaa

Finnfund’s investment portfolio continued to grow in the third quarter of 2023, reaching a value of EUR 729 million, which is an increase of EUR 31 million (+4%) from the year-end 2022. During the first nine months of the year, 28 new investment decisions were made worth EUR 221 million.​ In the third quarter of the year, […]

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Cracking the climate risk code in credit risk management

Aleksi Koskikallio

Climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy lead to costs for companies. They are therefore one factor determining companies’ credit or investment risk. For the financial sector, climate risk and how to handle it in credit risk analysis has been a hot topic for some years now. It is not an easy task, […]

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Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Sylvie Fraboulet-Jussila & Päivi Michael

As the world is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is time for us at Finnfund to reflect on our work with human rights. Thru our human rights due diligence processes, we have identified and mitigated the actual and potential adverse human rights impacts […]

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How investing in digital infrastructure and solutions helps reduce the gender gap

Elina Happonen

Finnfund’s Digital Infrastructure and Solutions team was established only a couple of years ago, but we have a great spirit of getting things done and we have achieved a lot already during our first years of operation. We have identified three needs or issues that our investments seek to solve: 1) access to basic mobile […]

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Placing contract farming in the service of development, food security, and equality

Anne Valto

The 2022 Global Report on Food Crises[1] estimates that at least one in five Africans goes to bed hungry, and an estimated 140 million people in Africa face acute food insecurity. The Horn of Africa, in particular, is again suffering from persistent drought, and countries dependent on imported wheat and sunflower oil are suffering as prices […]

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CFO insight into Q2 2023

Olli Sinnemaa

Finnfund continued active origination of new investment opportunities in the second quarter of 2023. During the quarter, eighteen new investment decisions were made worth EUR 171 million. The portfolio value was EUR 700 million, representing an increase of EUR 2 million from the year-end 2022. Inflationary pressures have continued to raise the USD and EUR […]

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Regardless of the dark clouds over Kenyan economy, the banking sector is performing relatively well

Nea Tiililä

Finnfund’s strategy places a strong emphasis on Africa, with half of the investments in the continent. Kenya is one of the important markets in East Africa and that is why we opened a regional office in Nairobi in 2022.  The Kenyan economy is experiencing challenging times and Finnfund’s Economist Nea Tiililä took a closer look […]

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CFO insight into 2022 and Q1: Positive result – positive outlook

Olli Sinnemaa

Our Annual Report 2022 has been published, and I am happy to say that despite the global and local economic and political challenges, the year was a successful one. The project preparation targets for 2022 – 230 million euros and 22 projects – were clearly exceeded: a total of 28 new projects totalling 246 million […]

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Terhi Koipijärvi: Strategic thinking over administration

Terhi Koipijärvi

What is most important in Board work? How to draw the line between operational and strategic thinking? How to avoid getting bogged down in administration? What is it like to serve on the Board of the largest forestry company in East Africa? “Thank you for your faith in me, what an intriguing company!”, replied I […]

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