World Bank Announces Next Phase Of Its Private Sector Investment Lab
The chapter also expands the Lab’s membership to include industry leaders with experience generating jobs in developing economies.
The World Bank Group announced the launch of the next phase of its Private Sector Investment Lab, with a focus on implementing proven solutions at scale.
The chapter also expands the Lab’s membership to include industry leaders with experience generating jobs in developing economies, aligning directly with the Bank’s focus on job creation as a core driver of development, it stated in its press release.
“With the expanded membership, we are mainstreaming this work across our operations and tying it directly to the jobs agenda that is driving our strategy,” said World Bank Group President Ajay Banga.
Work by the Lab has now been consolidated into five priority focus areas that are being integrated across Bank Group operations:
Regulatory and Policy Certainty: Supporting governments in creating stable regulatory frameworks. For instance, the effort to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity relies on upfront policy clarity to attract long-term capital.
Political Risk Insurance: Streamlined guarantee instruments has led to a 30% increase in issuance compared to last year.
Foreign Exchange Risk: Scaling local currency financing to deepen domestic capital markets. Last year, IFC committed one-third of its long-term financing in local currency—with a goal of reaching 40% by 2030.
Junior Equity Capital: Launched the Frontier Opportunities Fund to absorb early-stage risk. Initially capitalised with IFC income, the fund will grow with donor and philanthropic contributions.
Securitisation: Collaborating with institutions such as S&P and BlackRock to standardise and securitise portfolios, unlocking capital from pension funds, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds.
As the Lab enters its implementation phase, it is also expanding its membership to include private sector leaders in sectors critical to job creation—such as infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and manufacturing. These industries have a proven ability to translate investment into broad-based employment and economic opportunity.
While the lab is chaired by Shriti Vadera, chair of Prudential plc, new members of the Lab include Sunil Bharti Mittal, chair, Bharti Enterprises.
