Balim Investments AG is an impact venture founded in 2024 by HEKS/EPER, Somaha Foundation, and iGravity. It builds on a portfolio of loans from a pilot project launched in 2021. Balim’s main goal is to improve rural livelihoods by providing loans and technical assistance to African companies in the agriculture, water and energy sectors. The company has a strong presence in several rural regions of Uganda and Senegal and has been expanding to Kenya and Tanzania since 2025, where access to finance is still limited but impact opportunities are big. By addressing the SME financing gap, Balim mainly supports businesses in rural areas which face difficulties in accessing traditional financial services.
Shared Interest Foundation (SIF), established in 2004, is a UK-based international development charity. It supports sustainable enterprise development, focusing on smallholder producers in Africa and Latin America. Its work prioritises business development, climate resilience and the empowerment of women and youth. SIF operates as the sister organisation to the ethical finance provider Shared Interest Society.
For more than 20 years, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) has been committed to facilitating access to finance for African SMEs. I&P’s activities are built around three core pillars: directly financing and supporting entrepreneurs (seed funding and private equity), backing and developing African investment teams (sponsor fund and fund of funds) and strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The investment teams partnering with I&P - Sinergi Niger, Néré Capital (Burkina Faso), Teranga Capital (Senegal), Comoé Capital (Côte d’Ivoire), Miarakap (Madagascar), Zira Capital (Mali), Inua Capital (Uganda), Fako Capital (Cameroon) and Gola Capital (Guinea) - together with I&P, are joining forces to deploy the SSNUP programme within their respective portfolios.
These organisations are aligned with the SSNUP objectives of increasing the resilience of smallholder farmers and of attracting more private sector investments in agriculture in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.