Blog

COVID-19 has focused our attention on a singular issue, the global pandemic, and rightly so. With the global scale of its current and foreseen consequences, we must acknowledge that this is a crisis and it is our duty to respond to it as swiftly and as effectively as possible.

FinDev Canada issued last week our first report on our adhesion to internationally agreed Operating Principles for Impact Management. For many of us, it’s the culmination of a long and satisfying journey. It’s also the beginning of another one, hopefully even more fulfilling.

People and organizations around the world are currently facing the abrupt and exceptional challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to take a few moments to share FinDev Canada’s immediate response to this crisis and discuss how we’re gaining insight into, and preparing for, the medium and longer-term repercussions for our client companies and the people they serve.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having, and will continue to have, deep and often devastating impacts on the medical, social, and economic lives of people globally. It is no exaggeration to say that the virus, in some way, will touch everyone in the world sooner or later. Those of us working in international development know that people living in the emerging economies of Latin America, Africa, and Asia will be particularly hard hit.

Spotting opportunity, then seizing it, is not as easy as some may think. As essayist Mark Twain wrote “I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.”
At FinDev Canada, our job – in fact, our mission – is to recognize the opportunity and the potential in private sector companies in select regions of the developing world and to work with them to create win-win-win situations.

2020 marks a significant milestone for FinDev Canada. After closing the year with numerous impactful transactions, new partnerships and a strengthened international brand, there are growing expectations, both at home and abroad, that Canada’s Development Finance Institution (“DFI”) can exceed its original plan and contribute to establishing bolder objectives for DFIs in the future.