Luxembourg's Business Partnership Facility (BPF), an initiative designed to engage the country's private sector with sustainable development projects abroad, on Monday celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Launched in 2016 by the Ministry for Development Cooperation§, in partnership with the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev), the BPF has in the last decade overseen more than 50 projects across 20 countries, with over €15 million mobilised.
In return, the BPF hopes to drive innovation, with projects aiming to provide a blueprint for new technology uses on a larger scale.
Luxembourg-based SolarCleano, for instance, illustrates how the BPF helps businesses turn innovation into local development impact.
With BPF support, the solar-panel cleaning robotics company is establishing a regional base in Senegal to expand across West Africa, combining equipment deployment with operator training, local staffing, and spare-parts availability.
Its technology tackles dust-related energy losses while reducing water consumption and maintenance costs: at one industrial site in Togo, the company reports a tenfold reduction in both water use and financial losses.
The partnership aims to improve solar performance while building local technical skills and creating jobs.
Speaking at the anniversary event, the first such occasion at LuxDev's new headquarters in Luxembourg City's Gare district, Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel underlined that despite the financial nature of the BPF's operations, it would all be about making a difference: "The goal is not to make money, the goal is to help people."
Bettel went on to warn that development aid around the world had recently been "shrinking", with trust in institutions also shaken in Luxembourg in the wake of the Caritas embezzlement scandal.
Finishing on a more positive note, Bettel said that the BPF's 10th anniversary stood as a testament to its longevity, with LuxDev director general Manuel Tonnar adding that the goal was now to further expand the BPF's reach.
