• Operating methods: minority equity investments, either indirect (in other investment funds) or direct (in banks, microfinance institutions, businesses, infrastructure projects).
• Financial instruments: equity investments, subscriptions to bond issues, shareholder current accounts; possibility of technical assistance for a limited amount indexed to the investment.
• Technical support : technical assistance services dedicated to strengthening companies capabilities in terms of  leadership, internal organisation, marketing, human resources, financial planning and technical matters
• Eligible geographical area: Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Investment period: 5 years, from 20 April 2009.
• Unit investment amount: from €1M to €10M.
• Maximum shareholding period: from 7 to 10 years.

Target:

To support the development of businesses or financial institutions by making minority equity investments in projects with sustainable future development prospects and a sizeable developmental impact.

Financing criteria:

• The activity financed must be mainly located in Sub- Saharan Africa.
• The recipient entity must be managed by a skilled and experienced team.
• The financed project must be sustainable.
• The project must have a convincing business plan and be profitable in the medium term.
• The recipient entity must comply with international environmental, social and anti-money laundering standards.
• FISEA’s financial exit is conceivable in the long term.

Target:

To support skilled management teams by making minority equity investments in investment funds that take positions in segments neglected by traditional financing in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Investment criteria:

• The bulk of the final investment must be made in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The investment fund must be managed by a skilled and experienced team.
• The projects financed must be financially profitable in the medium term.
• The investment fund must have the capacity to support the development of businesses that benefit from its financing.
• The investment fund must comply with international environmental, social and anti money laundering standards.
• The investment fund must have the capacity to catalyze other investors in order to optimize project impacts

FISEA has a budget of EUR 5m to support African companies and contributes to financing:

• Technical assistance missions for (i) organizational diagnostics in companies and FIs to identify their weaknesses and propose areas for improvement, as well as (ii) targeted advisory support for a function or product;

• Assistance programs set up by investment funds for companies in their portfolio.

This assistance benefits a wide range of actors, including SMEs, in the sectors of health, the agro-industry, the production/distribution of consumer goods, banks, micro-insurance and microfinance institutions.
It concerns the management of the company – both the financial and social management – as well as information systems, technical operations, marketing, etc.

To date, the capacity building programs developed by partner investment funds have mobilized the bulk of the financing allocated by the FISEA technical assistance budget. Indeed, they provide support to companies which, due to their small size, could not benefit from direct support from AFD Group.