As Nithio grows and expands its offerings in the climate finance sector, we have updated the name of our lending vehicle, previously Nithio FI, to provide clarity and stay true to Nithio’s values and mission for our lending impact.
FAIR, the Facility for Adaptation, Inclusion, and Resilience, exemplifies Nithio’s commitment to financing products that improve households’ quality of life and ability to adapt to the ever-changing realities of climate change. It also highlights our focus on ensuring no one is left behind. FAIR is a blended-finance, open-ended facility, providing investors ranging from Development Finance Institutions to family offices, impact investors, and commercial investors access to a diversified portfolio with strong impact outcomes and financial returns.
The Facility is unique in that it is powered by Nithio’s Risk Analytics Engine, which provides a standardized credit risk assessment for each company’s underlying portfolio and customers, enabling Nithio to forecast cash flows and determine repayment risk accurately. The Engine informs our due diligence, portfolio monitoring, and impact tracking.
With this clear understanding of credit risk, Nithio, via FAIR, finances not only large international companies but also small, local distributors, where we are oftentimes the first international investment they receive. For example, Nithio has invested in Solargen, which services the Somalia-Kenya border.
Through FAIR, Nithio invests in consumer-focused climate solutions that provide end-users with new and improved energy access. Products such as solar home systems and solar productive use appliances, like solar water pumping, improve health, education, and safety outcomes, support users in starting or scaling their businesses, increase access to information, and enable adaptation to future climate shocks.
To date, through FAIR, Nithio has made 10 investments in Africa to companies providing clean energy products, including solar home systems distributors, productive use appliance companies, and microfinance institutions. As an open-ended vehicle established two years ago, we currently manage more than $36 million, with ambitious plans for continued growth.