Africa’s leading Guarantee Institution, African Guarantee Fund has received an additional 33million USD financing from German lender KfW Development Bank, in a move that will catapult AGF’s efforts to enable African SMEs continues to play their critical role in driving Africa’s economy, according to Apo group.
As to the press release, this new financing comes at a time when the continent’s small and medium enterprise sector has been singled out as a key driver of growth. This now places Africa Guarantee Fund firmly on the driver’s seat as the champion that eases access to financing for small and medium enterprises across the continent.
The African Guarantee Fund is focused on its goal to provide financial guarantees for over 10,000 small and medium enterprises annually through partner financial institutions and as a trickledown effect, create 30,000 jobs per year.
“We are excited about the confidence our shareholders and partners have in what we are doing in Africa. This capital injection will go a long way in ensuring that we continue to make a positive impact in the continent. So far, we have cumulatively issued more than 1 billion USD worth of guarantees making available about 1.7 billion USD for small and medium enterprise financing through our Partner Financial Institutions. This has led to the creation of more than 100,000 additional jobs,” says Felix Bikpo, Group CEO of African Guarantee Fund.
Out of the 20,000 African small and medium enterprises from various economic sectors that have so far benefited from African Guarantee Fund guarantees, the institution is very proud that 60 percent of these small and medium enterprises are owned by youth who are the majority in Africa today, and 30 percent owned by women, both being demographics that heavily impact Africa’s economy.
“Our experience traversing Africa has shown us that Women in Africa are tenacious entrepreneurs, even though they face a gender financing gap of 42 billion USD. The capital increase from KfW will largely be used to increase financing of women owned or led businesses. This is in addition to our partnership with the African Development Bank through the recently launched Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) which currently has a 251 million USD commitment from G7 countries,” added Mr. Bikpo.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 12 January 2020
BY MEHARI BEYENE
