Bridging Capital & Resilience: Unlocking Blended Finance for the Missing Middle
Session Overview
Despite billions in available climate finance, small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Global South—especially those driving resilience and sustainability—struggle to access funding at affordable rates. Why? The pricing of capital, driven by high transaction costs and risk perceptions, creates barriers that prevent appropriate investment in resilience-building initiatives.
This interactive session will explore:
The link between capital pricing and resilience-building, and how to rethink risk for capital market resilience.
Why blended finance works (and where it doesn’t) in addressing these barriers and how to ensure it is done sustainably.
Why conventional capital fails to flow, despite the high availability of concessional finance, and how to address this gap.
The role of top-ranked business schools in facilitating action-oriented, systemic dialogue and ideation.
Opportunities for funders across the capital stack to engage concessional funders in co-creating fit-for-purpose, missing middle funding solutions.
Session Format
Hosted by Saïd Business School, this highly interactive session will:
Challenge conventional finance models and invite new approaches to structuring capital for climate resilience.
Feature real-world case studies from the innovative UNDP AFCIA funding program and its partners, highlighting scalable solutions.
Facilitate a collaborative working session, where participants co-develop a fit-for-purpose missing middle financing instrument.
Who Should Attend?
Investors & Funders looking for new models to deploy capital in the Global South.
Social Enterprises & SMEs navigating financing challenges in climate and resilience-building sectors.
Development Finance & Policy Leaders shaping the next generation of blended finance models.
Business Schools & Academic Institutions interested in leveraging research and talent to solve real-world funding challenges.
Facilitators:
Clint Bartlett – Investment & Scaling Consultant to the UNDP; and Executive in Residence, Oxford Saïd Business School
Abrar Chaudhury – Senior Research Fellow, Saïd Business School / Skoll Centre
Amrita Bhandari – Chief of Insights & Strategy, Acumen
Rabih Yazbeck – Senior Vice President of Programs, Near East Foundation
Elira Karaja – Ph.D Senior Economist, Sustainability Specialist, UN system, Fellow Economics Department Verona University
This is a solutions-driven session, designed to bridge capital gaps and accelerate investment in climate resilience.