As 2024 comes to a close, we’re excited to share Convergence’s most impactful content of the year – the reports, blogs, and op-eds that you engaged with the most in 2024!
Top Report: State of Blended Finance 2024
This year, for the first time, we released two State of Blended Finance reports. The first report released in April covered the overall blended finance market and the second, released in October, focused on climate. The April report provides analysis and insights on the entire blended finance market, including blended finance activity across sectors, regions, investors, investment structures, development impact generation, and more.
This report observed that financing totals bounced back to near pre-pandemic volumes, reaching a 5-year high of $15 billion in 2023. The report also saw a significant uptick in the cadence of blended finance over time, with an increase in the average number of annual blended finance transactions from 2021-2023 compared to the past decade. Additionally, the report explores some of the key regulatory roadblocks faced by large-scale commercial investors active in blended finance and delves into transparency in blended finance.
Top Data Brief: Blended Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa - SME Financing
This Data Brief explored financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa .
SMEs play an important role in the economic development of the Sub-Saharan Africa region, however they face significant challenges accessing the financing needed to survive and grow. The brief shares insights from interviews conducted with industry stakeholders, exploring challenges for SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa and opportunities for blended finance to support them. Convergence's Historical Deals Database (HDD) has captured 145 SME-focused transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa, totalling $11 billion. This represents just over 27% of the total number of Sub-Saharan Africa deals in the HDD, but only 14% of aggregate financing.
Top Op-ed: Three Africa-led blended finance models mobilizing billions for development
In this op-ed, our Director of Engagement and Capacity Building and Head of AfricaAakif Merchant explores financial innovation in Africa. The piece highlights three first-of-their-kind approaches to blended finance by African development finance institutions and multilateral development banks.
Top blog: Developments on the blended finance ecosystem: Green Guarantee Company
Following the launch of the world's first climate-focused guarantee company, the Green Guarantee Company (GGC), our Managing Director Chris Clubb wrote a blog on what this could mean for the blended finance ecosystem and why he is paying attention.
The GGC will issue guarantees to credit enhance debt to climate mitigation and climate adaptation borrowers/projects undertaken in developing countries, making the Paris Agreement and SDGs investible in those countries for many prospective investors and mobilizing investors to climate impact investment.
