OPIC Announces Inaugural Impact Award Winners
March 11, 2014
(OPIC)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Overseas Private
Investment Corporation presented awards for
excellence in development finance in a ceremony
held today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
These “Impact Awards” were an inaugural event
for OPIC, the U.S. Government’s Development
Finance Institution.
The Agency presented eight awards across six
categories to winners selected from an
exceptional group of recent clients that have
worked with OPIC to advance development impact
in emerging economies.
The 2014 OPIC Impact Award Recipients:
Renewable Resources: SunEdison, LLC,
for a 60-megawatt solar power plant in South
Africa being built with the support of OPIC
financing. This project advances South Africa’s
ambitious renewable energy program, while
helping to meet growing power demand in an
undeveloped part of the country.
Critical Infrastructure:
ContourGlobal Togo, LLC, for a 100-megawatt
thermal power plant outside of Togo’s capital
city Lomé, built with the support of OPIC
financing and political risk insurance. The
power plant has brought a reliable source of
electricity to a country that has one of the
lowest rates of per capita energy consumption
in the world.
Access to Finance: (3-way
tie)
Global Partnerships, for Social
Investment Fund 5.0, for which OPIC provided
financing. This fund will support lending in
poor communities in Latin America with a focus
in four key areas: health services, rural
livelihoods, green technology and
micro-entrepreneurship.
Inter-Mac International, Inc., for Los
Castaños de Choloma housing community in
Honduras, which provides low-income families
safe and affordable homes, built with the
support of OPIC long-term financing in a region
of Honduras with a scarcity of permanent
housing.
The Medical Credit Fund, for work in
Africa to provide financing and technical
assistance to many small and medium healthcare
providers that are a staple of healthcare for
low and middle-income Africans.
Development Impact: International
Rescue Committee, for providing a broad
spectrum of services including health care,
improved living conditions and social services,
such as prevention of genderbased violence.
OPIC provides insurance coverage for IRC’s
operations in more than 20 nations.
Private Equity: Helios Investment
Partners, LLP, one of the largest investment
firms focusing exclusively on Africa. It is
among the few independent, pan-African private
equity investment firms to be founded and
managed by Africans. OPIC has provided
financing to a number of Helios funds since
2004.
American Small Business: Ellicott
Dredges, LLC, a manufacturer of dredging
equipment with clients in more than 100
nations, including Iraq, where the government
used Ellicott equipment for vital
reconstruction projects. OPIC provides
political risk insurance to Ellicott, whose
work overseas helped create additional jobs at
Ellicott facilities in Maryland and Wisconsin.
“OPIC’s development finance model depends on
partnerships with businesses that have big
visions, experience in challenging markets, and
a commitment to see their work through to
outcomes that are successful from both a
business and a development standpoint,” said
Elizabeth Littlefield, OPIC’s President and
CEO, in remarks to the audience of senior
government officials, private-sector supporters
and the private investors recognized during the
evening. “OPIC clients are having a profound
impact on peoples’ lives that is tangible,
enduring and inspiring. We want to spotlight
that.”
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