Our Partner:
The SDG Impact Finance Initiative (SIFI) is a Swiss non-profit association established in 2021 by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the UBS Optimus Foundation, and the Credit Suisse Foundation. In 2024, the Government of Luxembourg joined SIFI as a member and the UBS Optimus Foundation and Credit Suisse Foundation merged. SIFI’s aim is to help shift social and environmental impact from niche to scale, through the mobilization of greater private sector investment. From boosting quality education to fighting climate change, SIFI’s bold ambition is to use strategic impact finance to create a fairer, more sustainable world.
The Project:
The SIFI Product Window offers support to impact fund managers seeking to scale up their innovative impact ideas and build on proven investment fund concepts. Through this window, SIFI provides funding in the form of first-loss equity to impact funds in order to (a) contribute to the SDGs in developing markets, (b) address social themes, and (c) mobilize capital from the private sector. With the Product Window, SIFI extends a globally unique offer to impact asset managers by providing innovative funds with first-loss equity on a regular basis via a standardized process.
Our Tasks:
Broadpeak was hired repeatedly by SIFI for various assignments over the years. Initially our role was that of an strategic advisor to support the establishment of the Product Window balancing the ambitions of the donors and to develop the core features of the associations’s funding activities. Subsequently, we were engaged to develop a procurement framework based on public sector procurement standards yet enhanced for the desired pragmatism a private sector association. Ultimately, Broadpeak was entrusted with the management of a series of stand-alone Calls-for-Proposals to identify the best-in-class impact fund managers globally for a desired set of SDGs, impacts and asset management services.
Our Deliverables:
Broadpeak conducted workshops with SIFI’s donors, summarized and condensed the views and provided expert options to build a unique selling proposition for SIFI within the impact fund space. The interaction resulted in decision documents to build the Product Window conceptually. In addition, we developed the Procurement Framework outlining the procedure and rules of SIFI’s Calls-for-Proposals which form the basis of the tenders. Lastly, we conducted several procurements including the publication of the tender notices, the establishment of a transparent evaluating grid to have a fair and equitable selection process, the analysis and grading of received proposals from fund manager candidates, the preparation of an evaluation report for SIFI’s executive management / investment committee / independent board, the organisation of interviews with the fund manager candidates and the final evaluation report including an allocation proposal.
