EIF secures the Bulgarian Bank of Development as additional investor for its Social Impact Accelerator Initiative

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has secured the Bulgarian Development Bank(BDB) as additional investor for its Social Impact Accelerator Initiative (SIA). BDB has committed to invest EUR 1 million into the first pan-European public-private partnership supporting social enterprises. This investment contributes to diversifying SIA’s source of funding, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, which is still a comparably young and undeveloped market for social enterprises and social funds.

SIA is the first pan-European public-private partnership for social impact investing which had been launched in 2013. It addresses the growing need for availability of equity finance to support social enterprises, a segment of the business world which is becoming increasingly instrumental in promoting social inclusion, providing alternative sources of employment for marginalised social groups and contributing to growth.

Already in 2014, the initial resources under SIA had been fully committed into five social impact funds. Since then, the fund size has been increased twice to meet market demands

SIA marks a first step in the EIB Group’s (European Investment Bank and EIF) strategy to pioneer the impact investing space and respond to the wider EU policy aim of establishing a sustainable funding market for social entrepreneurship in Europe. Beyond simple financial return targets, these social impact funds seek to trigger positive societal change as a result of their impact conscious investment activity.

Press Contacts:

EIF: David Yormesor d.yormesor@eif.org

BDB: Veronika Mihailova, PR expert, mihailova.v@bdbank.bg