Grassroots Business Fund

Harold Rosen, the founder and managing director, leads the investment committee, supported by regional investment directors in Nairobi, New Delhi, and Lima. Rosen's decision-making framework draws directly from his tenure leading the IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative, and the team prioritizes on-the-ground sourcing through local networks rather than centralized, headquarters-driven deal origination.

GBF operates a two-part structure: a for-profit fund that makes equity and mezzanine investments, and a non-profit arm, GBF Innovations, that delivers donor-funded technical assistance to the same portfolio companies. This allows GBF to take on enterprises that need significant operational or management support before they are ready for commercial capital, absorbing costs that a standalone for-profit fund could not justify.

GBF writes initial checks ranging from $500,000 to $3 million, using direct equity, convertible notes, or mezzanine debt. The fund focuses on holding periods of five to seven years and often serves as the first institutional investor in a company, positioning it between microfinance lenders and larger development finance institutions that deploy minimum tickets above $5 million.

GBF relies on local investment teams in Nairobi, New Delhi, and Lima rather than centralized sourcing from Washington. The regional teams work through agricultural cooperative networks, financial inclusion intermediaries, and off-grid energy associations. Because the fund regularly provides pre-investment technical assistance, sourcing often begins with a capacity-building engagement that later converts into an investment.

GBF invests directly into operating companies, not through funds. The firm does not operate as a fund-of-funds and does not participate in third-party GP commitments. Its capital goes exclusively onto the balance sheets of small and growing businesses where GBF can pair equity or debt with hands-on technical support delivered through its non-profit arm.

GBF does not invest in extractive industries, large-scale infrastructure, or listed securities. The fund also avoids sectors where the end beneficiary is not clearly a low-income population, which rules out luxury goods, commercial real estate, and consumer finance products that do not serve base-of-the-pyramid clients.

GBF originated as a spinout from the IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative, which Harold Rosen ran before founding the independent entity in 2011. The firm is legally and operationally separate from the World Bank Group, though it continues to receive funding from development finance institutions and foundations that share a development mandate.