DIG Capital managed a ten-year, USD 14 million program in Haiti comprising a USD 8 million housing finance facility (Rebati) co-financed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporations (DFC) and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF). The Rebati facility played a vital role in long-term reconstruction efforts by providing a systemic solution to finance the construction and repair of homes and businesses through Haiti’s existing financial sector infrastructure, with a specific focus on the country’s working poor.
The facility offered shelter and business reconstruction solutions for a broad spectrum of beneficiaries, by infusing Haiti’s financial sector — notably reputable microfinance institutions, small and medium enterprise lenders, and other eligible and regulated financial institutions with much needed long-term liquidity, repayable on affordable terms within a ten-year period. The financial products available through participating financial institutions included micro-mortgages, housing microfinance, and loans for the physical reconstruction of businesses. The loans ranged from: USD 5,000 to USD 25,000 for micro-mortgages; USD 1,000 to USD 5,000 for housing microfinance; and USD 3,000 to USD 40,000 for small and medium enterprise repair and construction. On the capital side, DFC provided USD 8 million and the CBHF an additional USD 3 million. The State Department/USAID transferred USD 6 million to DFC, which contracted DIG Capital to manage the facility and to provide technical assistance (TA) to help participating Haitian financial institutions design and market these new financial products. An estimated 5,000 families benefited from the Rebati facility.
DIG Capital staff members have extensive international finance experience and have played a leading role in recent years in defining and disseminating best practices on housing microfinance throughout the world. DIG Capital has also worked with key agencies of the Government of Haiti tasked with post-earthquake housing and settlements planning. DIG Capital core technical strengths lie in post-emergency reconstruction, financial services, with expertise in housing finance and the urban realm. DIG’s President and CEO, Franck Daphnis, is from Port-au-Prince and members of DIG’s management team have worked in country. (2013-2021)