Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development

Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development SA is a Swiss for-profit entity and international development finance institution which invests in countries of East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

It was founded by Aga Khan IV and is part of the Aga Khan Development Network.

Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) was founded in 1984 and is a part of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). It consists of more than 150 companies and is active in 15 countries which employs more than 30,000 people. The agency works to build infrastructures that support economic development. Its major investments include the Financial Services, Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) and Tourism Promotion Services (TPS). These initiatives span improvements in banking, electricity, agriculture, hotels, aviation, and communications linkages.

AKFED provides a living for millions of people, in particular in the agribusiness sector. For Example, AKFED developed green bean farming in Kenya by providing 50,000 farmers with technical assistance and buying their produce for export to Europe. The company has 2,000 employees, turns a profit, and indirectly provides a living for 500,000 people.

In conjunction with the governments of certain developing countries, AKFED operates to promote the private sector. Through the support of industries, the agency aims to bolster the participation of developing regions in market economies. In addition, essential to sustaining development initiatives is a stable human resource bank from which to draw support. To this end, AKFED provides training in administrative, managerial, and marketing skills with the aim of fostering locally owned enterprises. Where capital is unavailable, the agency provides the initial investment for companies through the use of microloans. As a for-profit organisation, however, AKFED conducts its businesses as a standard employer with ups and downs associated with financial results.

AKFED operates in conjunction with private donors, international economic organizations and individual governments to address constraints and hindrances to development. Working primarily in Africa and Asia, the agency encourages the growth of industry and infrastructure in order for developing regions to generate the capital necessary for investment into AKFED's many projects and more generally, for a country's growth.

Since the 1960s, the agency has supported a group of enterprises under the Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), each of which was conceptualized to spur investment and increase activity in the corporate sectors of developing countries. However, with the international climate largely favouring countries with export-oriented economies in place of popular import substitution industrialization (ISI), IPS adjusted its approach. The changes would include an emphasis upon privatization and the agency embarked on its goal with a new approach in the 1980s. Private enterprises and entrepreneurs became generators for capital investment into agribusiness and infrastructure, both crucial to the development process.

Operating in East Africa, Central Asia and South Asia, AKFED supports the creation of financial institutions including banks and insurance groups within these regions. The agency is a major supporter of corporate activity and is a prime lender for local business both in Bangladesh and the Kyrgyz Republic where it founded the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB).