UN Capital Development Fund 2d ago

A young woman in Asmara, Eritrea has a business idea and the drive to match it. Capital walks past her. A farmer in Siem Reap, Cambodia knows exactly what she would do with a loan, if only somebody would give it. Capital walks past her too. 📍 At the UNCDF Executive Board, the UNCDF Executive Secretary named this reality plainly: 💬 "Too often these countries are seen as too small, too risky, too far from conventional finance — and so capital walks past them every single day." The challenge in development finance is not the absence of capital. Capital exists. The challenge is sequencing. 🔍 Who goes in first? Who takes that early risk when the market is most fragile and returns are uncertain? That is the role UNCDF was created to play. Not arriving after the risk is gone. Showing up precisely because the risk is there. 📈 In Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, fragile settings and markets where conventional finance will not move first — UNCDF deploys guarantees, concessional loans and first-loss capital to change the conditions that determine where investment flows. 🚀 Because the young woman in Asmara and the farmer in Siem Reap are not waiting for charity. They are waiting for their chance. #uncdf #unitednations #investment #globalnews © UN Capital Development Fund 2026. All rights reserved.