Experts discuss ways to channel domestic capital into impact-driven businesses
Participants discussed barriers to financing businesses with measurable social and environmental impact, including through direct lending, co-investment and risk-sharing arrangements.
A roundtable of investors, banks and financial institutions has explored ways to channel domestic capital into small and growing businesses, as green finance accounted for only 6% of sustainable finance disbursements in Bangladesh in April–June 2026.
Banks and finance companies disbursed Tk960.04 billion in sustainable finance during the period, including Tk61.58 billion in green finance.
LightCastle Partners, supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh and partnering with Truvalu Bangladesh and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), organised the closed-door roundtable, "Scaling Impact Through Finance", at Hotel Sheraton in Dhaka today (14 October).
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Participants discussed barriers to financing businesses with measurable social and environmental impact, including through direct lending, co-investment and risk-sharing arrangements.
Ameena Chowdhury, senior programme manager at the Swiss embassy, said catalytic financing should attract private investment rather than replace it.
"Bangladesh has moved beyond asking why impact investing matters. The real question now is how we bring domestic capital to work at scale," she said.
Bijon Islam, chief executive officer of LightCastle Partners, presented the firm's upcoming Bangladesh-based impact fund for commercially viable businesses with measurable impact. He cited an estimated financing gap of more than $70 billion for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), saying catalytic capital could help reduce investment risks.
Willem Grimminck, managing director of OneTrueValue, presented the ORE II Fund, which backs climate-vulnerable small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in renewable energy.
The two funds aim to build investment track records in underserved segments and help businesses access mainstream institutional financing.
The 90-minute discussion, moderated by Bijon Islam and Sharawwat Islam, managing director of Truvalu Bangladesh, examined why growth-stage and green businesses struggle to secure conventional financing.
"There is a real ambition for financing impact businesses and supply of capital is not the problem. A combination of efficient financing structures, risk-reduction mechanisms, catalytic capital, right partnerships, and built-in MRV for impact can unlock capital for the last mile," noted Sharawwat.
Sharawwat Islam closed the session by summarising proposed solutions and next steps.
