DFC Developments: We've Launched!
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Dear Colleagues and Friends:
I’m excited to share with you our inaugural newsletter kicking off the official launch of DFC!
In late September, the U.S. Senate confirmed me to be the first CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Being a part of this new agency is an extreme honor, endlessly fulfilling, and, sometimes exhausting!
My team and I worked closely with Congress to help secure the funding needed to exercise DFC’s new investment tools and development authorities. The new agency and our mission continue to have widespread bipartisan support, as evidenced by the comprehensive and dynamic approach taken to create DFC through the BUILD Act. I was extremely pleased when Congress acted in December to appropriate full funding for DFC and the force behind it.
I made it a priority to split my first few months in this role between working with my team and U.S. Government colleagues in Washington and traveling internationally to participate in key investment conferences and connect directly with government leaders, the business community, and project partners.
I met with leaders from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in both Washington and Mexico City to discuss investment opportunities in the Western Hemisphere. I later attended the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg to highlight the new investment tools DFC has to offer. Meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy and other leaders has energized me around all we can do in the country given the great social and economic advances they are undertaking. A trip to Egypt in November focused on important investment opportunities to bolster and stabilize the country and its neighbors. And I was pleased to accompany National Security Advisor O’Brien to Bangkok, Thailand for the ASEAN Summit.
Back in Washington, I’ve been getting to know the extremely talented team here and bringing on some new experts to help execute on our expanded mission.
I hope you will keep reading to learn more about DFC and all that we are up to. If you want to keep up with us in real time, please follow me at
@AdamUSDFC
and the agency at
@DFCgov
.
All the best,
Adam
Adam Boehler
Chief Executive Officer
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
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NEW ERA OF U.S. DEVELOPMENT FINANCE LAUNCHED WITH DFC
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U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) officially opened its doors in January 2020, modernizing and amplifying the U.S. Government's development finance mission.
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DFC CEO MEETS COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT DUQUE
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DFC CEO Adam Boehler traveled to the U.S.-Colombia Business Summit in Cartagena and met with President Ivan Duque to discuss investment opportunities in Colombia.
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WATCH: BOEHLER'S Q&A WITH CNBC AFRICA
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On the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, DFC CEO Adam Boehler joined CNBC Africa to underscore the agency's commitment to the continent: “We believe in a strong, self-sustaining Africa and we want to invest in that."
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$100 MILLION LOAN TO EMPOWER WOMEN IN ECUADOR
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Together with Wells Fargo, we're helping Banco Pichincha expand its lending portfolio in Ecuador to support female entrepreneurs. One hundred percent of the total loan proceeds will go to women.
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US, JAPAN, & AUSTRALIA UNVEIL BLUE DOT NETWORK
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Unveiled alongside our Australian and Japanese counterparts, Blue Dot Network brings together governments, businesses, and civil society to set the standard for global infrastructure development.
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DFC SIGNS LOI FOR ENERGY IN MEXICO
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DFC CEO Adam Boehler joined Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in Mexico City to sign a letter of interest to finance a natural gas pipeline to strengthen energy security in the country's southern states.
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LOAN TO KIVA REACHES 200,000+ ENTREPRENEURS
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Our loan provided financial support to over 211,000 microentrepreneurs—more than 80% of whom are female—in developing countries through a $10 million loan to Kiva Microfunds.
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DFC CEO MEETS WITH ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
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During a trip to Addis Ababa, DFC CEO Adam Boehler met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy,
President Sahle-Work Zewdie, and other government leaders where he applauded recent
economic reforms and discussed investing in the country.
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DFC AND AfDB LAUNCH NEW COLLABORATION IN AFRICA
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During his first official travel to Africa, DFC CEO Adam Boehler joined Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, to sign an MOU strengthening cooperation in support of development in Africa.
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DAVID PENNA
David Penna recently joined DFC to lead the agency’s new Office of Strategic Initiatives. In this role, David oversees a team working to cultivate private sector investment in projects across key regions and sectors including healthcare, technology, and energy. Prior to joining DFC, Penna was a partner at a global law firm where he served as Global Co-Head of Project Finance with a focus on international energy, power, infrastructure development, and finance.
How will your office work to ensure DFC is integrating its work with American foreign policy goals?
Advancing foreign policy is one of DFC’s three key pillars, along with promoting sustainable development and generating a return for the American taxpayer. In the current climate, authoritarian, state-led regimes are devoting massive amounts to developing infrastructure in emerging economies in projects that are not always serving those countries. The best way for the U.S. to respond is to increase cooperation with our allies and cultivate private sector investment to promote projects that are financially sustainable and deliver strong developmental benefits. We are also working to refine DFC credit application to include the foreign policy impact of our projects.
What is the biggest opportunity for DFC?
I think the biggest opportunity for DFC is that we can chart our own course. Under the previous structure, there was a relatively narrow aperture through which all the transactions had to fit. The organization did an excellent job but the aperture was relatively defined. Congress, in passing the BUILD Act, created a world in which we have broader discretion that gives us some ability to shape the parameters through which to support projects.
What are your early impressions?
This is an organization that attracts very talented people, and I am excited to serve at this pivotal time. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much the agency operates like the private sector.
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