$2.6 BTotal volume of subloans facilitated to MSMEs and households since fund's inception
Supporting SDG8Decent work & economic growth
Impact Report 2025
Investing in Impact: 1Billion & Beyond
A message from our Board Chair & Portfolio Manager
In 2025, SANAD reached a milestone that reflects both resilience and long-term commitment to the region, surpassing USD 1 billion in cumulative investments across the Middle East, North Africa, and selected Sub-Saharan African markets.
In a year marked by economic uncertainty and regional conflict, we returned to a clear growth trajectory, deploying more than USD 160 million in new investments to ensure MSMEs continued to access the liquidity they need to operate, employ, and grow. With this the fund has also supported over 497,000 jobs since its inception, out of which 34% held by women.
Key Investment Figures
Key Investment Figures
$1.2 B
Cumulative volume invested in partner institutions
$441 M
Outstanding investment portfolio debt sub-fund
$55 M
Outstanding investment portfolio equity sub-funds
48
Active partner institutions
As of Dec 31, 2025
Each partnership represents more than a transaction; it represents trust, long term alignment, and a shared commitment to strengthening local financial ecosystems and access to finance for entrepreneurs in the region.
Sandra Rohleder, Board Chair
Key Impact Figures
Key Impact Figures
497 K*Indirect jobs supported in financed MSMEs
Supporting SDG8Decent work & economic growth
170 K*Indirect jobs supported in financed MSMEs held by women
Supporting SDG5Gender equality
51 KPeople benefiting from capacity building since fund's inception
Supporting SDG9Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Cumulative figures since fund's inception, as of Dec 31, 2025
* Figures are modeled by the SANAD Fund based on primary reporting and third-party data
Impact Stories
Our 2025 impact stories highlight the resilience of the SANAD Fund, our partners and investees. Our stories showcase our strong commitment to empowering MSMEs and female entrepreneurship across MENA and SSA, despite environmental and social challenges.
Supporting economic resilience in times of war
Transformative Agricultural Investments, Cultivating Resilience
Backing Women, Building Resilience
SANAD Equity: Empowering MSMEs Through Innovation
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), expanding access to finance requires more than debt financing. It requires risk capital to scale strong, resilient institutions capable of serving underserved markets in a sustainable manner. The SANAD Equity Sub-Funds were designed with this principle in mind: to provide patient capital to financial service providers that can expand access, innovate responsibly, and scale their impact across the region.
Where We Invest
Where We Invest
One thing remains certain, SANAD will continue to support local investees, MSMEs and entrepreneurs, investing in their potential, strengthening communities, and building a future where opportunities in their local markets can thrive even in the most challenging environments.
Iveta Tancheva-Nikolova, Portfolio Manager
Advisory & Capacity Building Highlights
In 2025, SANAD through its Advisory & Capacity Building activities strengthened financial institutions, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem actors across MENA and selected countries in Sub‑Saharan Africa (SSA), with emphasis on resilience, digitalization, and inclusion.
Support addressed key priority areas including digital transformation, agricultural finance, women’s economic empowerment, sustainability, and crisis response. Since the fund’s inception, approximately 51,000 people have benefited from our capacity-building efforts. In 2025, 52% of those we supported in MENA and SSA were women, reflecting our strong commitment to advancing career opportunities and access to finance for women in these regions.
Featured Highlights
Technology
Technology
Digital Transformation
Piloted and scaled digital transformation support, for SMEs reaching over 2,700 beneficiaries
Resilience
Resilience
Crisis Response
$1.5 million grant-based support for crisis recovery and resilience projects in MENA
Women Entrepreneurs
Women Entrepreneurs
Empowering Female-led Startups
Advanced women’s economic empowerment through regional acceleration and leadership programs
Syrian Study
SANAD partnered with the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management to conduct a market scoping mission, providing an in-depth assessment of the evolving situation in Syria. This comprehensive study explores political and regulatory developments, macroeconomic and financial dynamics, and the MSME landscape, alongside risk considerations affecting both the supply and demand sides of MSME finance. Crucially, the study also enabled SANAD to evaluate market viability and identify priority areas where SANAD’s support could make a meaningful difference, helping to shape future interventions that address Syria’s most pressing needs.
Our Approach to Impact & Sustainability
Promoting inclusive growth through women empowerment
In 2025, SANAD advanced its Gender Strategy by combining targeted financing for women entrepreneurs with advisory and capacity-building support for investees and ecosystem stakeholders to reduce barriers and strengthen enabling conditions for women’s economic empowerment. The fund also conducted an impact study to better understand how its equity investees support MSMEs and underserved groups through innovative fintech solutions and to identify the key drivers of SANAD’s investor contribution. The findings provide a strong evidence base for shaping the impact strategy of SANAD’s next successor equity fund.
Our Partners
We are deeply grateful to our public and private shareholders whose trust and continued support enable this work.
Information for investors
Sorry, in respect of the United States of America, Canada, Japan or Australia or any other jurisdiction in which the distribution, offer, sale, transfer or resale would be prohibited by applicable law, no investment in notes/shares or other instruments of the Fund (or its sub-fund(s)) can be offered or made.