"If there is no financial injection, there is no hope," said Peter Fanconi, chairman of Swiss impact investment managers BlueOrchard Finance Ltd. "Today, about 2.3 billion people have no access to credit or financial services. So microfinance is bridging this gap."
Fanconi spoke to The Japan Times on Nov. 16 during a brief visit to Tokyo to update investors on the Japan ASEAN Women Empowerment Fund (JAWEF), which was launched in September 2016 with support from the Japanese government, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. and others.
BlueOrchard, which manages the JAWEF, started in 2001 under the initiative of then U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and has offices in Zurich, Geneva, Luxembourg, Lima, Phnom Penh, Tbilisi and Nairobi.