Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, September 19, 2018—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, with support from the International Development Association (IDA) Private Sector Window, is investing a $8 million in a debut private equity fund by Highland Capital, an investment management firm, to help expand access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The financing package includes $4 million from IFC’s own account blended with $4 million from the IDA Private Sector Window.

The new Highland Private Equity and Mezzanine Fund, which currently has $15 million in capital commitments, is the first institutional private equity fund in the country. The fund will provide critical growth capital of $800,000 to $5 million to local SMEs in services, agricultural processing, health, education, telecommunications, media, and technology. This is critical because smaller business across the country often struggle to access the capital they need to expand.

Cholpon Jumashukurov, Highland Capital’s Senior Managing Partner, said: “We are thrilled to have built a diversified base of high‐caliber investors, including IFC and other private investors. We are thankful to IFC, our anchor investor, and to Emil Umetaliev, a reputable local businessman, who trusted our team and approach by investing in our fund. Our investment approach fits the local market very well as it addresses the huge deficit of risk capital. We see a large number of compelling investment opportunities and we favor investments where our team can add significant value beyond capital provision.”

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Maksat Ishenbaev, Chairman of the Bai-Tushum Bank Executive Committee, expressed gratitude to the USAID Agro-Horizon Project at the Trade and Investment Forum that took place on June 5-6 for the fruitful cooperation and contribution to the development of the economy of country regions. According to Maksat Ishenbaev, three innovations were introduced in the Bai-Tushum Bank as part of the USAID Agro Horizon Project.

“The first innovation is value added chain (VAC) financing, the second – the introduction of remote loan applications analysis through a tablet solution. Bank’s officers got an opportunity to make a quick assessment at client’s business location, which enabled our loan officers to get response on the possibility of lending within one hour. Thus, we save the time of both our clients and bank’s employees. And the third innovation we have introduced is the agent network and remote banking service development. We strive to expand the use of remote service channels by our clients, as well as to increase the volumes of loan repayments through terminals. The clients do not need to visit the office, all they have to do is to find a payment terminal next to their business or residence. As part of remote service channels promotion, we are planning to expand the cash-in terminal network and introduce a cash out system. The clients in remote regions will find this service method very convenient, as there will be no need to spend time and money to travel to a Bank’s office and borrow a loan”, – said Maksat Ishenbaev.

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