IDB Lab is issuing a Call for Loan Proposals to identify firms that can be potentially eligible for debt financing from IDB Lab. Applicants should be businesses that are operating in IDB’s six member countries in the Caribbean (the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. IDB Lab seeks to support innovative, high-impact businesses that address key social, economic, and environmental challenges in the Caribbean.

IDB Lab is launching this loan call to increase our presence in the Caribbean and expand our financial support for high-impact early growth stage businesses that are addressing key development challenges through innovation. While venture capital plays a crucial role in fostering early-stage innovation, we recognize the need for more debt financing options to support high impact and innovative, but not necessarily tech-based, firms that have proven business models and require funding to scale their operations. By increasing access to debt financing, we aim to empower entrepreneurs and businesses to drive social and economic transformation, enhance financial inclusion, and develop solutions that address the region’s most pressing challenges. This initiative aligns with our broader goal of ensuring that capital flows to high-impact ventures that generate measurable benefits for communities and economies across the Caribbean. 

Access to financing remains a key barrier for businesses operating in emerging and underserved markets. The IDB Lab Loan Call seeks to identify potential eligible candidates for its debt financing product. IDB Lab seeks to identify businesses in the intersection of Impact, Innovation, and Financial sustainability, supporting funding to SMEs, and grassroots organizations working on solutions that foster financial inclusion, climate resilience, and social impact in the Caribbean.

• Proposals should be submitted by for-profit companies that have traction, are operating an ongoing business, are generating revenues and are seeking debt funding to scale projects/initiatives with a demonstrable development impact.
• Businesses should be legally registered in one of the six target countries where the project will be implemented. Businesses that are legally registered in one of the 48 members countries of the IDB Group, other than one of the six target countries where the call for proposals will be implemented, may apply only in partnership with an organization operating and with an established entity registered and located in one of the six target countries where the project will be implemented.
• Businesses that can provide audited financial statements for at least the last 3 full financial years and their most recent management accounts in 2025