Armenia’s small businesses account for nearly 70% of jobs in the country. As in many other countries, they struggle to obtain credit because of stringent requirements, including credit histories and collateral.
Digital bank Evocabank has secured $10 million from the OPEC Fund for International Development to on-lend to small businesses, focusing on women-led enterprises and businesses in the renewable energy sector.
Impact debt
Evocabank earlier this year landed €12 million ($13.3 million) from EIB Global, the European Investment Bank’s development arm, to capitalize 100 small businesses, one-fifth of which will be run by women.
Swiss impact investment firm responsAbility recently lent Evocabank another $4 million, on top of its $7 million loan last year. International Finance Corp. provided $30 million in debt to Evocabank to help Armenia’s small businesses recover from the pandemic.
Oil for impact
Evocabank’s latest backer is a development finance fund backed by a dozen current and former members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The nearly 40-year-old fund has disbursed $27 billion in funding to 4,000 businesses and projects in 125 countries.
The largest contributor to the fund is Saudi Arabia, followed by Iran and Venezuela. Half of the fund’s capital goes to projects and organizations providing financial services, like Evocabank; just over one-quarter goes to energy projects. It has invested nearly $300 million in Armenia in the past 20 years.
