The Blended Finance Company

The case follows Vikram Gandhi, founder of The Blended Finance Company (TBFC), a Mumbai-based social enterprise that designs and arranges blended finance structures to mobilize private capital toward social and environmental outcomes in India. TBFC has built early credibility with philanthropic funders, but a foundation partner presses Gandhi on whether his structures actually build climate resilience for India’s most vulnerable populations. The question is reinforced that same morning by news of flooding that has wiped out smallholder farmers’ harvests and incomes.

Shortly afterward, TBFC receives a request from Ujjani Collective, a grassroots organization representing more than two million informal-sector women workers, to design a financial solution that helps its members withstand climate shocks without falling into debt. TBFC’s small team can pursue only one approach and must respond within a week. Two options emerge: a traditional blended credit-guarantee lending facility (familiar, bankable, but limited in eligibility and unable to fund immediate post-disaster consumption needs) and an unorthodox parametric insurance program (broadly eligible and fast-paying, but expensive, unproven, and organizationally risky for a young enterprise with limited reserves). The case closes before Gandhi decides, asking students to weigh impact, financial viability, and reputational risk under real time pressure.