(Track 7: Adaptive Water Resources Infrastructure, Coastal Resilience and Blue Food/Carbon)
The session aims to explore how private capital can be mobilized to deliver nutrition outcomes alongside financial returns, drawing on lessons from the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F) on using blended finance, technical assistance, and impact measurement to unlock investment in nutrition‑focused enterprises. It also aims to clarify constraints facing investors in Asia–Pacific and highlight how emerging nutrition finance facilities and partnerships can build investible pipelines and support the growth of nutrition‑sensitive SMEs.
Introduction
Tomoko Kato, Senior Nutrition Specialist, ADB-AFNR
Opening remarks
Winfried F. Wicklein, Director General SD2, ADB
Framing note:
Asia and the Pacific’s transformation opportunity and the investment gap for Nutrition
Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, GAIN
Presentations
- Roberta Bove, GAIN
- Rahul Rai, Incofin
Learnings from Nutrition Investing in Sub-Saharan Africa and Approach for the Asia Pacific region
Presentation of the N3F Approach for Asia Pacific
- Narayan Iyer, AFNR, ADB
- Adnan Rafiq, PSFI, ADB
Panel Discussion
- How SMEs they work with have scaled
- What does the current financing landscape look like for nutrition in Asia Pacific
- What constraints emerge beyond early-stage finance
Moderator: Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, GAIN
Stakeholder Perspectives on Nutrition Investing
Current mandate/strategy and positioning within the nutrition investing space in Asia-Pacific
Exploring challenges to increase production and distribution of nutritious food
Challenges faced/observed within respective roles/perspectives currently preventing the scale up of the nutritious food system in Asia-Pacific
Introducing and identifying solutions for Asia Pacific Nutrition Financing
Reflections on how the APN3F, similar nutrition investing solutions /collaborations / partnerships could address the challenges faced within the nutrition investing space in Asia Pacific
Panelists:
- Tushna Dora, ADB-PSOD
- Abdelkarim Sma, IFAD
- Uzair Naveed Rabbani, Askari Bank
- Gabriel Ferrero, World Bank Group
- Ghaleb Ahmed Al-Qazi, BMC Group
- Prateek Rastogi, Better Nutrition
Questions & Answers
Closing Reflection
Martin Lemoine, ADB-PSOD
