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I enjoy quite a lot every year reading
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ideas
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action proposals many of them are some
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things that even we in the World Bank
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Group have not thought about but
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ultimately I think about the ideas for
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action is something that we can actually
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put into action and and implement and
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finance and when you think of some
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challenging challenging countries we
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call them fragile and conflict affected
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countries or challenging sectors for
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example where where you don't have a
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private participation in health or
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education or even energy generation I
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don't think that if we focus only on
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financing through public sources or only
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our wait for the conditions where we can
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use commercial financing I don't think
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that we have time to do that and hence I
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do look at blended finance which is
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somewhere in between as a very practical
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way of financing some of the innovative
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pioneering projects through private
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sector but helping improve the returns
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for the private sector and manage the
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financial risk of those transactions so
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I'm all for for using blended finance in
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those special circumstances and we have
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a number of examples where actually this
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has worked very well where we were open
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to create a demonstration effect to
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bring the first solar private operator
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in a country like Zambia to show that
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this can be done through private means
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we use the 15 million on blended finance
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15 million o5c commercial financing and
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15 million of OPIC financing to
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structure this deal but now we know that
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for the second solar project in Zambia
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we will not need to blend that much and
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and and eventually it will all be
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commercially financed I mean talking
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about blended fairness I want just to
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step back for a moment when issues of
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course when these young innovators and
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entrepreneurs think about their project
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sometimes they are not well in for
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available financial resources so and
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that's why idea for action is really not
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primarily about competition of ideas is
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social capacity development so the more
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young people are informed about this new
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of a financing mechanism more freedom
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they will have in thinking about their
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projects because now they know their new
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mechanisms for supporting and
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implementing this project but even step
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further because the more and more what
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we are seeing in the last few years is
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that even bigger companies are not
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necessarily well equipped to develop
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projects which will meet the requirement
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of blended finest you have to have quite
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of expertise inside the companies to
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address this broader economic and social
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issues which are related to this project
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and I think the role of young
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professionals working for these
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companies is critical so the more young
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professional we have inside the
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companies to innovate but also kind of
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push from the bottom up the
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opportunities which are offered by these
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new sources of finance we make it easier
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for these companies to partner with IFC
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and other financial institutions to
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fully utilize the potential of blended
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finance
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you
