Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) is an independent not-for-profit company committed to promoting greater access to financial services in Uganda. FSD Uganda seeks to develop a more inclusive financial sector with a focus on low-income individuals (particularly women) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). We support innovation, conduct research, help promote and improve policy, laws and regulation that shape the financial sector in Uganda.

FSD Uganda works with both public and private sector players to develop sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of low-income individuals through reduced vulnerability to shocks, increased incomes and employment creation.

FSD Uganda is currently funded by the Department for International Development (DFID)/UKaid  and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is part of a network of nine financial sector deepening organisations working across Sub-Sahara Africa.)

BIO is a Development Finance Institution that supports private sector growth in developing countries. BIO provides long-term financing to enterprises, financial institutions, and private infrastructure projects, as well as grants for feasibility studies and technical assistance programmes. BIO operates as an additional partner to financial institutions and aims to strike a balance between return on investment and development impact.

BIO is a member of EDFI (European Development Finance Institutions) and has more than 1 billion Euros of assets under management.

For more information, please visit their website or follow them on LinkedIn

Oxford Policy Management's mission is to help low- and middle-income countries achieve growth and reduce poverty and disadvantage through public policy reform.

OPM enables low- and middle-income governments to bring about lasting positive change using analytical and practical policy expertise.

Breadth of experience

OPM started with a team of just four people within the University of Oxford, working on agricultural issues in sub-Saharan Africa. They have grown over four decades to support governments across the world in a wide range of sectors. Today, they work in all areas of social and economic policy and governance, including health, finance, education, climate change, and public sector management.

Opportunity International is helping to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. We believe that empowering individuals to work their way out of poverty and give their children a quality education is the most sustainable way to transform their lives, their families, and their communities.

Opportunity International was founded in 1971 by two visionary leaders who were inspired to take action by their experiences with people living in extreme poverty.

Al Whittaker, former president of Bristol Myers International Corporation in the U.S., and Australian entrepreneur David Bussau sought a solution that would help people transform their lives. They entered uncharted territory when they launched what we know now as Opportunity International, which was one of the first non-profit organizations to recognize the benefits of offering financial services for people living in poverty in developing countries.

Today, Opportunity International serves 10 million hardworking families in 23 countries around the world. We have big plans for the world: a place without poverty where people can live with dignity and purpose. Our clients have ambitious dreams for their futures, but lack the opportunities needed to make those dreams a reality.

We go where others won’t to give these inspiring people access to business loans, savings accounts, financial training, and community support—all which empower these entrepreneurs to work their way out of poverty and build a new sustainable future for themselves and their families. 

To date, we have created or sustained more than 20 million jobs by giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to thrive. With your support, we will reach millions more clients—and those clients will change the world. 

Find out what Nick Meakin, from Opportunity International has to say about PHB.

FINCA International is the founder and majority-owner of 20 community-based microfinance institutions and banks across Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia.

Through this global network, called FINCA Impact Finance, we are meeting the needs of previously unbanked clients. FINCA does so by providing access to financial services and enabling full participation in the economy for the world’s poor.

FINCA takes an innovative approach to microfinance, combining traditional branches with agency banking, alternative credit scoring and analytics, mobile wallets, point-of-service biometrics and the use of tablets. Together, these technologies help us reach and serve more clients in remote areas.

We have more than 30 years of experience trusting the poor. FINCA has shown that access to basic financial resources can transform lives, strengthen communities and alleviate poverty.

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries.

With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments—through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project  finance—can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development.

By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a number of different SDGs.

Sources: UNCDF