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

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

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

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts 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 markets. Becau ...

s and

investment fund An investment fund is a way of 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 advantages in ...

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 SMEs in order to compensate for the reluctance of

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

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 ( nl, Federale regering, french: Gouvernement fédéral, german: Föderalregierung) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state ("junior", or deputy-minis ...

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 or sectors: ; Financial Sector: Facilitates the support of

microfinance institution Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

non-bank financial institution A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate ba ...

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 w ...

, in all matters concerning food crops intended for local consumption and export. In addition, focus is also given to companies involved in breeding, the processing of raw food and value addition. ; Infrastructure: Invests in private or public-private partnership projects, focusing on

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than tha ...

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, pipelin ...

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 in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

. 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 large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

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 political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, principally with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and the European Investment Bank (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) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

. In addition BIO has joint funding arrangements with the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member o ...

and with the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a development finance institution, multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African gove ...

.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