Press release —
Swedfund increases investment to preserve and create jobs in African SMEs
Swedfund is investing an additional USD 5 million in TLG Africa Growth Impact Fund II (TLG II). The investment will further support the preservation and creation of decent jobs in small and medium sized companies that otherwise struggle to access financing.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in job creation and local economic growth across Africa yet often struggle to access loans that meet their needs. Many are viable and have the potential to grow, but need financing on terms that are sustainable with their expected growth. Through its additional investment in TLG II, Swedfund helps bridge this financing gap by supporting a scalable credit solution that enables local companies to strengthen their businesses, grow, and create jobs.
“Through our continued engagement with TLG II, Swedfund helps address an important financing gap for SMEs in Africa. Flexible and tailored credit solutions can support viable companies with temporary liquidity needs, helping to preserve jobs while enabling businesses to recover, grow and create new decent employment opportunities,” says Jonas Tornblad, Investment Manager at Swedfund.
TLG II provides flexible, long-term debt to SMEs, backed by guarantees issued by banks. This allows TLG to offer loans with tenors and interest rates that give viable companies better conditions to strengthen their businesses and grow sustainably.
The investment is made as part of TLG II’s second close, together with Proparco, Calvert Impact Capital and several existing investors, including Swedfund. Swedfund invested USD 15 million in TLG II in 2025 and is now increasing its allocation by USD 5 million.
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About Swedfund
Swedfund is Sweden’s development finance institution with the mission to reduce poverty through sustainable investments in developing countries. Swedfund plays an important role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate. Swedfund shares the same goal as development cooperation in general, but the tools Swedfund uses are different. Swedfund has two instruments to fulfil its mission: sustainable investments in the private sector and technical feasibility studies through the Project Accelerator targeting the public sector.
Swedfund's investments contribute to the creation of decent jobs and increased access to essential products and services such as electricity and food. Swedfund is a long-term investor and is additional and catalytic through its investments and by mobilising private capital. Swedfund's feasibility studies support sustainable public infrastructure development, trade, and export opportunities for Swedish solutions.
We are part of Swedish development cooperation, and we measure and report all our results. As a state-owned company, Swedfund is managed by the Ministry of Finance and financed through portfolio reflows and annual capital injections for which the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible.
For more information: please visit www.swedfund.se/en
