Social Investment Managers and Advisors LLC (“SIMA”), a new generation impact investment manager managing funds of $180 Mn, and CreditAccess Philippines Financing Company Inc. (OnePuhunan), a micro lender in Philippines, today announced a partnership to reduce the financial access gap in Philippines by providing funds to expand its loan portfolio. OnePuhunan, a fast-growing micro finance company and a subsidiary of CreditAccess Asia group, provides financial services in the Philippines, focusing on low-income women borrowers and small businesses that are not served by traditional banking institutions.
SIMA Off-Grid Solar and Financial Access Debt Fund I (“Fund I”) provides multiple risk return tranches including a high yield catalytic tranche invested by international investors including DFIs, Foundations and Institutional investors, aiding scale to the increasing demand of the evolving Off-Grid Solar market and the associated Financial Access market.
SIMA developed Fund I to cater to the sector needs and to make available early to growth stage debt capital to institutions that have a proven business model while also catering to the Base of the Pyramid.
“OnePuhunan marks the Fund’s 30th investment. We have been investing in growth opportunities, which have the potential to deliver transformational financial and social impact. SIMA’s investment in OnePuhunan is backed by the institution’s proven lending model, high transparency in lending to women borrowers at the bottom of the pyramid, increasingly efficient operations, and strong corporate governance” said Asad Mahmood, SIMA’s Managing Partner.
Founded in 2014 by CreditAccess Asia group as a green field operation, OnePuhunan is one of the top five institutions and one of the fastest growing microfinance companies in Philippines, growing at a CAGR of 81% since its inception with an AUM of $62 million as of June 2021 and serving 274k borrowers through 152 branches.
OnePuhunan has a vision to become the preferred business partner of the Filipino households as it enriches their lives by providing convenient and reliable financial solutions that match their evolving needs. Most of the clients of OnePuhunan have stable economic activity and will be able to sustain and enhance it if they are provided with working capital support. The company employs the group lending methodology in lending but restrict the liability to individuals – a model that has worked well for the company as it scaled from 13k borrowers in 2015 to 274k borrowers in 2021. The USD 4 million investment from Fund I will facilitate OnePuhunan in providing the much-needed working capital (on-lending) to the borrowers of the company midst the disruptions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its related intermittent lock downs.
“Since our inception, we have focused on creating value for individuals and small businesses through reliable well designed financial services. We are very excited to partner with SIMA Funds and their support will help us accelerate our growth and thereby, multiply the impact we can deliver alongside our success. We look forward to reaching 1 million Filipinos by 2025 through our continuous growth, creating more opportunities for everyone in our community” said Daniel Rovere, CEO of OnePuhunan.