Missing Middle, The

The Missing Middle

The term Missing Middle refers to the financing gap in capital in emerging markets that lies above micro-finance and below traditional institutional financing.  The ‘Missing Middle’ gap generally covers the commercial activities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), who, although critical to the development of the economies in developing countries and emerging markets, find it very difficult to secure early-middle stage growth capital.

To put it another way, there is a gap in available capital and SME Venture Funds serving SMEs.  The ‘Missing Middle’ has a big influence on the ability of social business ventures to increase their commercial aims, and deepen the positive social and environmental benefits, and is one of the main issues that key players within impact investment and global financial institutions are striving to solve.