Grant awarded to FINCA International, BrightLife

The foundation is pleased to continue its support FINCA’S BrightLife initiative, which helps bring people from poverty in an environmentally responsible way.

FINCA International (FINCA) is harnessing its 30 years of experience in providing access to finance to low income entrepreneurs to bring sustainable and scalable solutions in the energy, education, water & sanitation, agriculture and healthcare sectors to families living at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). FINCA’s social enterprise in Uganda, BrightLife, is designed to make life-enhancing products affordable for families that struggle to meet daily basic needs. BrightLife provides distribution and financing for products that save people time and money; make families resilient and empowered, and increases chances to participate in the local economy.

This grant will benefit FINCA’s target population of ‘impoverished’ men, women, and families in Uganda. FINCA’s average client in Uganda is a married woman with three to seven children living in a rural area of the country. She is typically self-employed and sells foodstuffs, cookware, charcoal, used clothing, or soft drinks in a local market near her home.

This grant will help to fund a portion of BrightLife’s capital expenditures (a portion of the total budget) and support the overall goals for BrightLife over the next 12 months. BrightLife’s Objectives for 2019: 1. Increase the sustainability and growth of BrightLife into a medium-sized social enterprise through retention and expansion of its customer base. 2. Expand BrightLife product offerings through field-testing solar-powered productive use assets (e.g., solar-powered ice makers, solar-powered maize grinders) and evaluate the ability of these products to create new income generation opportunities for customers. 3. Continue to work with BrightLife’s suppliers on informing product design and pipeline through customer feedback on current and desired products. 4. Create opportunities for increased resiliency by building a financial inclusion pathway for customers to move up the financial and energy ladders. 5. Through monitoring and evaluation, continue to demonstrate that improvements to family health (better eyesight, less burns, and fewer respiratory issues) and safety (fewer burns and increased household safety) are the primary social impacts of BrightLife products.

This grant will fund FINCA’s social enterprise program in Uganda, BrightLife, which is designed to make life-enhancing products affordable for families that struggle to meet daily basic needs. BrightLife provides distribution and financing for products that save people time and money; make families resilient and empowered, and increases chances to participate in the local economy.