KATHMANDU, SEP 17 – Dolma Impact Fund, an international private equity fund, on Tuesday announced the launch of its fund to be invested in Nepal. The Fund said in statement that it would focus on investing in sectors including renewables, healthcare, education, agriculture and financial solution.
The Fund has been involved in providing capital and expertise to companies and targets sustainable job creation. “As an impact fund, Dolma builds positive social and environmental impact into the core of investee company strategies,” it stated.
The investors in Dolma include Development Finance Institutions from the Netherlands, Finland and Austria (FMO, Finnfund and Austrian Development Bank-OeEB respectively), as well as private individuals. The Fund has a maximum capital of over $20million (approximately Rs 2 billion) with the possibility of growing to $40 million (approximately Rs 3.9 billion).
The Fund has worked closely with the British government via both Departments for International Development (DFID) and the British embassy to find a model with a view to stimulating local company growth required for job and wealth creation in Nepal.
Its founder Tim Gocher said at the launch: “Nepal suffers from a chronic shortage of local employment. The good news is that remittance from Nepali migrant workers flow disproportionally to poorer and rural families.
This gives them the ability to purchase essential goods and services for the first time. But, due to a lack of available investment in local companies, most of this additional demand is met by increasing imports from India and China.”
The Fund further shared its plans to help scale up local companies to meet this demand, creating broad based local employment.
Gail Marzetti, the head of office at DFID Nepal, sees the launch of the fund in Nepal as an important milestone in the country’s development. “We are encouraged that our support to the not-for-profit Dolma Development Fund has helped to launch the first impact investment fund dedicated to Nepal.”
British Ambassador to Nepal Andy Sparkes said that the fund would begin to unleash Nepal’s potential and stimulate its economy.
Source : eKantipur
