1. This submission is being made by Lok Capital – a current investment of BII. Lok Capital is an impact investment firm focused on India. It was founded in 2004 to address India's social and environmental challenges by investing in and supporting businesses that have a positive impact on Indian society. The firm is committed to creating long-term value for its investors while creating positive social and environmental outcomes. Lok is currently deploying its fourth fund with a corpus of $100MM. BII has been an anchor investor of Lok Capital through the first three funds and we wish to highlight how BII’s investment in a fund like ours has accentuated overall impact

 

2. Lok Capital was founded by Dr. Rajiv Lall, Dr. Donald Peck, Vishal Mehta, and Venky Natarajan.  Dr. Peck, former Managing Director and Head of Private Equity for South Asia at BII (formerly CDC Group plc) played an important role in setting up Lok Capital and was also part of the investment committee until the third fund of Lok

 

3. The target market segment of Lok is people earning less than $4/day in rural areas and less than $6/day in urban areas.  Quantifiably, what we have achieved so far: 25 million active borrowers and 90% women borrowers – creating financial inclusion, impacting 34,000+ farmer livelihoods and serving 773k patients, reaching 97,000+ employees (10% women)

 

4. BII has not only been crucial in establishing Lok but has greatly accentuated its overall impact. Lok's partnership with BII has led to its stronger orientation towards impact and gender. Over the years, Lok and BII have collaborated on various investments in the financial inclusion and agriculture sector. BII has helped Lok with development of clear impact metrics that the fund and portfolio now strive for. BII nominated Lok for the 2X gender challenge committee and helped secure its certification as a 2X gender-focused fund and now, BII is playing a crucial role in driving the climate policy for Lok and providing the needed technical support