SIDI was set up in 1983 in France as a private company limited by shares, on the initiative of the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD). In the North SIDI mobilizes funds from institutions and individuals, through its shareholding and an ethical savings fund. These funds are used to finance microfinance and smallholder producer organizations in the South such as credit and savings unions, microfinance banks and companies, specialized NGOs, small-holder producer cooperatives and companies, and farmers’ organizations. SIDI gives priority to institutions that need financial and institutional strengthening and is active mainly in rural areas where institutions provide financial services to small farmers and micro-enterprises. SIDI’s share capital, 13 million Euros, is used to provide various financial products to partner institutions such as equity investments, local and hard currency loans, local bank guarantees. The revenue from the ethical fund enables SIDI to provide regular follow up and technical assistance to its partners in order to strengthen their financial and institutional viability and improve their services to their clients.

End of December 2010, SIDI’s portfolio was 10,4 million euros, of which 43% invested in Africa, 32% in Latin America, 6% in Asia, 9% in the Mediterranean basin, 9% in Eastern Europe, and 1% in the Caribbean. Amongst its founding shareholders are the French Development Agency, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and the Crédit Coopératif (two French banks). SIDI’s financial and partnership relations are based on two main principles: long-term commitment and risk-sharing. SIDI has been a founding shareholder of various other funds such as Profund, La Cif 1, MAF (Asia) and more recently

SEFEA (Eastern Europe), SMEAF (East Africa), FOPEPRO (Latin America). SIDI together with two European allies, ALTERFIN Belgium and ETIMOS Italy, is about to launch FEFISOL fund, a 30 million EUR fund dedicated to financing rural microfinance institutions and producer organizations in Sub-Saharan

Africa. Triodos-Doen Foundation and Hivos-Triodos Fund Foundation Triodos-Doen and Hivos-Triodos Fund both started in 1994. Triodos-Doen is a joint initiative of Doen Foundation and Triodos Bank, and Hivos-Triodos Fund is a joint-initiative of the Dutch development organization Hivos and Triodos Bank. In 2011, both funds sharpened their strategy by including the sustainability themes foods & agriculture and energy & climate within the financial sector in developing countries as an additional focus.

The microfinance funds Triodos-Doen Foundation (Triodos-Doen) and Hivos-Triodos Fund Foundation (Hivos-Triodos Fund) are managed by Triodos Investment Management, a 100% subsidiary of Triodos Bank, one of the world’s leading sustainable banks. Triodos Investment Management has been a pioneering provider of capital to the microfinance sector since 1994.  As an investor it seeks to contribute to the development of a sustainable financial sector in developing countries based on fair pricing, transparency, access for all and care for the earth. Triodos Investment Management manages four funds that provide finance for around 95 MFIs in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, and holds equity stakes in 19 leading and innovative microfinance institutions and vehicles worldwide.