S3IDF Develops the Social Merchant Bank Approach (SMBA®)
It is critical to the founders that the S3IDF market-based concept be applicable across the many geographies and sectors. Acknowledging that while S3IDF’s work might be limited to only some geographies at first, once verified, the founders’ objective is to enable other development players to adopt a version of the approach so that development assistance and finance can have greater impacts. S3IDF’s approach becomes known as the Social Merchant Bank Approach (SMBA)®. The SMBA® reflects the history of merchant banking for project development and implementation that brings technology, business “know-how,” and financing together for commercial for-profit objectives. S3IDF’s founders see the potential for social and environmental benefits on local, regional, and global levels.
