MAE/018
Contribution to the Bloc Smart Africa Fund

BLOC Smart Africa is part of a set of six independent impact subfunds grouped under the SDG 500 fund managed by Bamboo Capital Partners (http://www.bamboocp.com/). Each of the six subfunds is dedicated to a particular sector with a specific geographical focus.

In January 2020, Luxembourg announced its intention to invest in the BLOC Smart Africa fund. This contribution is in line with the desire to involve the private sector in a more systematic and strategic way in the achievement of Luxembourg's development objectives.

The BLOC Smart Africa fund is the result of a partnership between Bamboo Capital Partners and Smart Africa (https://smartafrica.org/), a network of 30 African States aiming at creating a single digital market on the African continent. BLOC Smart Africa's investment objective is to accelerate the use of new technologies at the global level with a focus on the African continent in order to contribute to the fight against poverty and address large-scale environmental challenges through more sustainable development, inclusive economic growth and long-term social impact.

It focuses on different sectors, namely financial inclusion and agro-industry, access to clean energy, health care and education. More specifically, the fund looks at areas where innovative technologies can pave the way for new investment opportunities and improve access, affordability and sustainability of essential products and services for low- and middle-income communities in developing markets.

BLOC Smart Africa invests on a priority basis in companies with an operational presence in Africa, without excluding the possibility of investing in other geographical areas in solutions or technologies that are also applicable in Africa.

LuxDev is responsible for the financial management of Luxembourg's contribution to the fund as well as the monitoring of its investment. In this capacity, LuxDev represents the Luxembourg government on the advisory committee of the sub-fund which is responsible for advising the board of directors of the fund on their investment policy.