The historical operator for French education abroad has inaugurated its training center which will contribute to the development of innovative education in West Africa. It has been set up with financing allocated to the Mission Laïque Française in February 2020 by AFD Group via its subsidiary PROPARCO

Proparco has granted a long-term structured loan to PFO Immobilier, subsidiary of the Groupe PFO Africa, to finance office and commercial real estate projects in Abidjan. This is the first financing operation provided to a property holding company in West Africa and this transaction will accelerate the deployment of energy-efficient real estate assets portfolio.

This is the story of Cissé Abdoul Aziz, a scientist who discovered his entrepreneurial spirit. He tells the story of the creation of his company, Afribacom, which employs 30 permanent staff, and why he turned to Cofina, a partner of Choose Africa, for financial support. At the height of the Covid-19 crisis, Cofina also supported Afribacom.

As part of the SME Ventures Forum, which is taking place on 15 and 16 March in Paris, AFD today signed an agreement to invest USD 7 million in the Oasis Africa Fund (OAF). This fund invests in SMEs in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire that help to improve access to essential goods for vulnerable sections of the population.

Support for African SMEs is central to Société Générale Group’s strategy. In 2018, the Group started deploying “Push SME”, its mechanism to support SMEs in Africa, for a period of four years. As part of this strategy, the subsidiary of Société Générale in Côte d’Ivoire (SGCI) aims to play an active role in building a sector of successful SMEs able to drive economic growth in the country. Mr. Assane KAH, SME Market Manager at Société Générale Côte d’Ivoire, tells us all about it.

On the occasion of the 3rd edition of the Finance in Common Summit (FICS), Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Proparco and Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire signed two portfolio guarantees, ARIZ and EURIZ, for a total amount of FCFA 5.5 billion (equivalent to € 8.4 million).

These guarantees will enable Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire to accelerate its financing of Very Small and Medium Enterprises (VSEs) in the country, especially those owned or managed by women as part of its initiative in favor of women entrepreneurship, "Ellever".

On November 25, 2021, the two institutions formalized their partnership in Lomé with a 40 million euro loan from Proparco to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU, also known by its French acronym, UEMOA) Caisse Régionale de Refinancement Hypothécaire (CRRH-UEMOA), a Regional Mortgage Refinancing Fund, for the refinancing of affordable housing loans granted by WAEMU banks to low-income populations in the zone.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) along with Proparco and French Public Investment Bank to advocate the promotion of Africa’s creative economy to the world

Geographical coverage: West Africa

Proparco's regional offices for West Africa cover: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Proparco is granting a loan to the French Groupe Duval, led by Eric Duval, for the renovation and operation of a 6,000 m2 office tower in the Plateau business district of Abidjan.

At the Africa Financial Industry Summit in Casablanca, Proparco and Baobab Côte d’Ivoire, the leading microfinance institution in the country, announced a new partnership. The agreement includes a senior credit line of €15 million and an EURIZ guarantee of €4 million, aimed at supporting the agricultural sector and enhancing food security in Côte d’Ivoire.

Proparco and IFC are providing a senior loan to Groupe Duval to support the newly launched “Village Notre Père” mixed-use real estate development, scheduled for completion in 2027.

During the visit to Côte d’Ivoire by Mr. Franck Riester, the French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, PROPARCO and the financial institutions ADVANS-CI, ECOBANK-CI and Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB) today signed new MoUs to support Ivorian companies affected by the crisis. These partnerships will allow the deployment of the Choose Africa Resilience guarantee set up in response to the crisis.

On the occasion of the first visit to Côte d'Ivoire of Proparco's new CEO Françoise Lombard, Proparco granted 6 portfolio guarantees to Société Générale Côte d'Ivoire, Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire and Advans Côte d'Ivoire amounting to a total of 30.7 million euros, i.e. more than 19 billion CFA francs. These guarantees will enable the three financial institutions to increase their financing activity for MSMEs in the country.

To meet the needs of MSMEs affected by the crisis on the African continent, Proparco has set up an exceptional guarantee to cover part of the financing that financial institutions can grant them. Société Générale, a long-standing partner of the AFD Group and a key player in private sector financing in Africa, is the first financial institution to partner with Proparco to deploy this mechanism.

This guarantee, made possible thanks to the support of the French government, enables Société Générale's subsidiaries on the African continent to amplify their support for entrepreneurs. Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar and Senegal are the first countries to benefit from this loan offer which is 80% guaranteed by the AFD Group.