Our History
In 1998, FFI was established in Washington DC as a collaboration between US partners, including JD von Pishke whose seminal book "Finance at the Frontier" gave the firm its name and IPC GmbH with the objective of supporting small business finance in Latin America, although the mission soon grew to include Eastern Europe and Africa. In the same year, IPC formed IMI (later renamed 'ProCredit Holding') as a holding company for target group oriented greenfield banks, of which there are currently twenty-one. FFI and IPC have been responsible for building capacity and managing these banks in their start-up years, while also working with other commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions to build-up their capacity. In 2009 Frontier Finance added a new practice area: green finance. The ownership structure and management also changed at this time.
Our Approach
FFI's strength is building sustainable institutions that work at a meaningful scale and target sectors that are constrained by inadequate access to finance. Ideally, we are also creating models that are replicable across national boundaries. We work with existing commercially oriented financial institutions and banks that we help start from scratch.
Beyond Banking: we continuously innovate and build upon our capacity in order to design and deliver new financial products that address critical development challenges. Thus our dual focus on the enterprise sector and green finance.
Our Values
As part of our core values, we are deeply committed to principles of transparency, social responsibility, service orientation, and the maintenance of high professional standards. A responsible attitude toward the environment is a firm part of our understanding of who we are.
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