Bank of Zambia launches open call to appoint a fund manager for the Small Business Growth Initiative credit guarantee pilot

The Bank of Zambia, working with the National Advisory Board for Impact Investment, has published an open call for Expressions of Interest and market feedback to identify a management team to deliver the pilot phase of the Small Business Growth Initiative (SBGI), a new credit guarantee scheme intended to introduce risk sharing and support lending to micro, small, and medium enterprises. The pilot is designed around a portfolio-based guarantee facility, a technical assistance and training component for participating financial service providers and credit recipients, and a Learning Lab for data collection and analysis. The selected SBGI Manager would be expected to deploy and manage initial “Apex” capital, raise and manage additional third-party capital, deploy guarantees and subordinated debt, select and onboard participating financial service providers, oversee eligible loan portfolios and performance monitoring, run reporting and impact measurement in conjunction with the Learning Lab, manage the technical assistance facility, and lead communications and stakeholder engagement. Beyond the pilot, the framework envisages adding an equity facility to finance funds, factoring, and leasing companies. Responses to the EoI are due by 9 September 2025, with requests for additional information encouraged by 1 September 2025. The Bank of Zambia notes that the EoI is not a Request for Proposal, but submissions made during the open call period are expected to feed into a subsequent formal procurement process.