At Oikocredit, we pride ourselves on doing impact investment differently. For over 50 years, we have partnered with organisations in our focus countries to support underserved communities. Our local teams build deep market knowledge and maintain close relationships with partners.

We support partners with credit, equity investments and technical assistance across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Our partnerships prioritise social impact, safeguarding the environment, and generating fair financial returns for our investors.

We rigorously screen and monitor partners to ensure alignment with our social and environmental objectives. Our annual Client Self-Perception Surveys provide insights from thousands of clients, helping us and our partners refine products and services and align capital with client needs.

Blended finance is a growing part of our impact investing. It enables us to mobilise capital towards underserved markets and expand access to high-impact investment opportunities for a broad range of investors. By leveraging our local presence, partnerships and proven track record in sectors and geographies where investment remains limited, blended finance helps address key market constraints, including perceived risk, extended investment horizons, limited investee track records and insufficient scale. Through targeted risk-sharing structures and catalytic capital, we enhance investability, strengthen market confidence and crowd in private investment where it is needed most.

We enable a broader range of investors to participate in impact investing. By strategically deploying our capital, we maximise additionality and mobilise greater investment in underserved markets.

In this way, we connect impact-focused investors with underserved markets, mobilising capital where it is needed most. We look forward to connecting with you at Building Bridges 2026 to explore how we can work together to expand investment opportunities in underserved communities.

Read more: How we create impact

– Author: Didy van der Schilden CAIA, Global Head of Institutional Engagement and Partnerships, Oikocredit

– This contribution is brought to you by Oikocredit, a valued Bronze sponsor of Building Bridges 2026.