EMCompass Notes

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/39397

Report Series:EMCompass Notes

As part of the Economics and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency, IFC’s Thought Leadership regularly publishes EM Compass Notes as part of its regular work program that includes the dissemination of knowledge, trends and emerging solutions on topics and issues that are of specific interest to companies, multilateral development institutions and regulators. Its purpose is to generate fresh ideas about business in emerging markets. The Notes range from usually 4-8 pages and are geared toward clients and private investors, in addition to the traditional development community.

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Banking on FinTech in Emerging Markets
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2022-01) Rose Innes, Cleo; Andrieu, Jacqueline
Despite near-universal access to financial services in advanced economies, financial exclusion is stubbornly persistent in many emerging markets, leaving huge swaths of low-income populations unbanked or underbanked. FinTech companies, which apply innovative technologies to deliver such services in new ways, have begun to tap into the enormous unmet demand that this represents. These companies are starting to thrive in emerging markets, though regulatory issues, particularly weak consumer protection measures, remain to be resolved in many countries. If these can be overcome, and more progress toward universal access to digital infrastructure can be made, FinTechs will continue to scale and spread.
Sustainability-Linked Finance: Mobilizing Capital for Sustainability in Emerging Markets
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2022-01) de la Orden, Raquel; de Calonje, Ignacio
Sustainability-linked finance is designed to incentivize the borrower’s achievement of environmental, social, or governance targets through pricing incentives. Launched in 2017, it has now become the fastest-growing sustainable finance instrument, with over $809 billion issued to date in sustainability-linked loans and bonds. Yet these instruments are still nascent in emerging markets, which represent only 5 percent of total issuance to date. This note shares examples of recent sustainability-linked financing, including several involving IFC in various roles, to highlight how investors can utilize these new instruments in emerging markets and mitigate greenwashing risks
Financing Deep Tech
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10) Nedayvoda, Anastasia; Delavelle, Fannie; So, Hoi Ying; Graf, Lana; Taupin, Louise
Deep tech companies - those built on advances in biotechnology, robotics, electronics, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technologies—aim to solve complex social and environmental challenges. Today the majority of deep tech companies are being launched in developed countries, yet the solutions they can provide are applicable globally. Many of these solutions are especially critical to emerging markets, as the intractable challenges of climate, health, and connectivity, among other issues, disproportionately affect these nations. Addressing these challenges is a strategic priority for development finance institutions and governments worldwide, so financing deep tech companies and boosting deep tech ecosystems in order to deliver new solutions globally is a pressing matter. Doing so, however, requires substantial capital and carries a higher degree of risk than ordinary venture investments. This note examines the process of financing a deep tech company, including the benefits and drawbacks of currently available types of financing, and suggests examples of promising but not yet widespread alternatives.
Artificial Intelligence in Agribusiness is Growing in Emerging Markets
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2020-05) Cook, Peter; O'Neill, Felicity
Business models utilizing artificial intelligence can help meet rising global demand for food and support a more inclusive and sustainable food system by: (1) enhancing the resilience of farming methods; (2) reducing the cost of quality inputs and services to underserved farmers; and (3) improving market access to facilitate smallholder farmer integration into regional and global supply chains. Although nascent in emerging economies, applications for artificial intelligence in agribusiness will proliferate as farmers’ access to the Internet and adoption of smart devices increases across low-income countries.
Artificial Intelligence: Investment Trends and Selected Industry Uses
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-09) Mou, Xiaomin
The global race to fund, develop, and acquire artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and start-ups is intensifying, with commercial uses for AI proliferating in advanced and emerging economies alike. AI can increase gross domestic product (GDP) growth in both advanced countries and emerging markets. In energy, AI can optimize power transmission. In healthcare, diagnosis and drug discovery will benefit enormously from AI. In education it can improve learning environments and learning outcomes and can better prepare youth for transition to the workplace. In manufacturing, AI can help design better products in terms of functionality, quality, and cost, and improve predictive maintenance. AI can help extend credit and financial services to those who lack them. The potential impact of AI on transportation and logistics goes far beyond automation and road safety to span the entire logistics chain. Yet with the exceptions of China and India, emerging markets have received only a modest share of global investment in this advanced technology, despite the fact that they may benefit more from AI implementation than advanced economies.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Supporting Development in Emerging Markets
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-07) Strusani, Davide; Houngbonon, Georges Vivien
Artificial intelligence (AI) has enormous potential to augment human intelligence and to radically alter how one access products and services, gather information, make products, and interact. In emerging markets, AI offers an opportunity to lower costs and barriers to entry for businesses and deliver innovative business models that can leapfrog traditional solutions and reach the underserved. With technology-based solutions increasingly important to economic development in many nations, the goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity may become dependent on harnessing the power of AI. While emerging markets are already using basic AI technologies to solve critical development challenges, much more can be done, and private sector solutions will be critical to scaling new business models, developing new ways of delivering services, and increasing local markets’ competitiveness. All of these solutions require innovative approaches to expand opportunities and mitigate risks associated with this new technology.
Municipal Broadband Networks: Opportunities, Business Models, Challenges, and Case Studies
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2021-11) Houngbonon, Georges V.; Rossotto, Carlo M.; Strusani, Davide
The accelerated use of digital services during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of high-speed Internet access. Yet a large share of adults in emerging markets still live in cities where the availability of high-speed Internet is limited. There is a strong case to be made for municipal broadband networks, which are fully or partially facilitated, built, operated, or financed by local governments, often in partnership with the private sector. There are three basic models for creating and operating these networks, and every network must work in the unique context of the city it will serve. But if they are well implemented, these models can offer digital access to city residents, help close the digital divide, and create opportunities for private sector players in both advanced and emerging markets.
Deep Tech Solutions for Emerging Markets
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2020-11) Nedayvoda, Anastasia; Mockel, Peter; Graf, Lana
Deep tech companies aim to address the world’s biggest challenges. These include providing Internet access to the unconnected, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, significantly increasing productivity gains across industries, and helping to solve many other intractable problems, particularly in emerging market and developing economies. A deep tech company brings transformative technology from the lab to the market, and democratized research infrastructure and increased available funding has led to the rise of deep tech companies globally, including in emerging markets. Yet commercialization is critical to realizing the benefits of deep tech solutions, and deep tech firms often struggle to successfully commercialize their breakthroughs. Strengthening local ecosystems and investing in deep technologies are critical to overcoming this common obstacle. As development finance institutions, institutional investors, and private equity and venture capital investors explore longer-term investment strategies, deep tech commercialization offers not a tech-enabled silver bullet but a holistic approach to investing in technology solutions.
Enabling Private Investment in 5G Connectivity in Emerging Markets: An Assessment of Challenges and Policy Options
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2021-04) Houngbonon, Georges V.; Rossotto, Carlo Maria; Strusani, Davide
This note proposes a high-level framework to assess challenges and policy options to enabling private sector-led investment in 5G connectivity in emerging markets. 5G is the latest mobile network technology and it has the potential to provide high-speed Internet connectivity and enable digital transformation across multiple sectors of an economy. The proposed framework leverages industry data to articulate the digital divide and benchmark the enabling environment for 5G connectivity in emerging markets. The note concludes with recommendations on policy options and business strategies, drawing from early experiences in advanced markets and major opportunities and challenges in emerging markets.
What Gets Measured Gets Done: Using a Corporate Scorecard to Drive Greater Investment Impact
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2021-12) Narayanaswamy, Meera
In 2018, International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) shareholders authorized a capital increase of 5.5 billion dollars, the largest increase in its history. The capital increase was based on a strategy that emphasizes creating markets and mobilizing private capital and came with ambitious operational undertakings designed to ensure IFC’s place at the forefront of development finance, and to reinvigorate development in the world’s most challenging environments. To help implement these hefty undertakings, measure progress, and motivate staff, IFC took a fresh look at how the Corporation uses operational targets to achieve strategic goals and overhauled its corporate scorecard. Institutions seeking to implement a transformational strategy, as well as impact investors and development finance institutions balancing financial and impact objectives, can learn from how the revamped scorecard balances risk-taking with prudence, innovation with traditional business priorities, and speed with governance, to drive greater investment impact.