Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), is a private company, based in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Overview

BIO works to promote the creation of a strong private sector in emerging economies, to enable them gain access to prosperity and sustainable development. BIO invests directly in private sector projects. , the company's total asset base was valued at €712.9 million, consisting of €485.6 million in investments already funded and €227.3 million already committed but not yet disbursed.

History

BIO was formed in 2001 to fund investment projects in developing and/or emerging countries. BIO invests to help those economies attain some of the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

. At the beginning, the company financed regional or local intermediary structures, such as

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s and

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investment, investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These ad ...

s. This was done to limit BIO's risk, allowing the company to benefit from the experience of more seasoned institutions. In 2004, it broadened its mission to the direct support of local

SME ''Sme'' (stylized as ''SME'') or ''Denník Sme'' () is one of the widely-read mainstream broadsheets in Slovakia. Its website is one of the most-visited internet portals in Slovakia. Ownership status In June 2016, the Antimonopoly Office appro ...

s in order to compensate for the reluctance of

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

s, which are generally hesitant to finance SME activities. In 2010, BIO’s scope of activities was widened to include the funding of private infrastructure.

Ownership

The company was started as a 50-50 joint venture between the

Government of Belgium The Federal Government of Belgium ( ; ; ) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the politi ...

and ''Société Belge d’Investissement International S.A.'', (Belgian Corporation for International Investment), also known as SBI-BMI. The initial shareholders' capital was €5 million. The Belgian Ministry for Development Cooperation provides further funding for onward lending. In 2014, the Belgian State acquired full shareholdership of BIO.

Organisational structure

BIO is organised in three main

divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

or sectors: ; Financial Sector: Facilitates the support of

microfinance institution Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...

non-bank financial institution A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that is not legally a bank; it does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulator ...

s, investment companies and

s. The aim is to allow local SMEs to obtain long-term finance. ; Local SMEs: Invests directly in local SMEs and large companies with a local presence, with focus on

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

, in all matters concerning

food crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species ar ...

s intended for local consumption and export. In addition, focus is also given to companies involved in

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

ing, the processing of raw food and value addition. ; Infrastructure: Invests in private or public-private partnership projects, focusing on

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and

transport infrastructure Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelines ...

where the main purpose is to support the local private sector.

International presence

The company is present in 52 countries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Africa, where most of the funding activities of BIO are concentrated, accounts for 34% of the funding commitments of BIO.

Partnerships

Since 2001, BIO has been a member of ''European Development Finance Institutions'' (EDFI), an association of 15

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an bilateral Development Finance Institutions. Its mission is to foster cooperation among its members and to strengthen their relationship with the institutions of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, principally with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

(EIB). BIO has a collaboration agreement with the ''Centre for the Development of Companies'' (CDE). This partnership aims to seek out, select and support entrepreneurs who need financing in the

ACP countries The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS, French: ''Organisation des États d'Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique'') is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georget ...

. In addition BIO has joint funding arrangements with the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

and with the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

.About BIO's Investment & Development Partners
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References

{{reflist

External links

Website of Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO)

Website of SBI-BMI
Foreign trade of Belgium Companies based in Brussels Financial services companies established in 2001