Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking group, has signed an agreement for a €100 million long-term credit facility over 9 years with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The facility affirms joint Ecobank Group and EIB targeted support for business investment across Africa, with particular support for the sectors most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the years, the pan-African banking group has devoted itself to supporting the growth and success of African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as creating employment opportunities.
This, according to Ade Ayeyemi, Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Group, “informed the credit facility that we have just secured from the EIB which we believe will deliver real impact in our joint mission to develop SMEs across Africa.”
The €100 million facility is poised to help African SMEs recover from the COVID-19 pandemic while also helping to provide them with the impetus to grasp the immense growth opportunities from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) vast single market.
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On its part, the European Investment Bank (EIB) works with leading banks and financial institutions across Africa to enhance private sector access to finance.
This latest cooperation with Ecobank Group, “will help companies to better tackle challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, unlock economic and social opportunities, especially for SMEs and women-owned and women-run enterprises, across Sub-Saharan Africa in the coming weeks,” Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President, European Investment Bank, said.
The facility is split into three regional facilities: West & Central Africa, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. Funding will be provided through Ecobank affiliates, for investment projects undertaken by private sector companies.
The EIB made the facility available through its COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility, for private sector entities active in eligible productive sectors, with fewer than 3,000 employees.
Ecobank Group: supporting women-focused businesses
The EIB loan will also be accompanied by technical assistance under the AWRI (African Women Rising Initiative) program of the EIB with gender finance-focused training and capacity building for lending to women entrepreneurs, closely aligned with the Ellevate by Ecobank initiative which supports women-focused businesses across the continent.
Ecobank Group and EIB both recognize the importance of ensuring access to finance by female-owned and female-focused businesses, in particular during times of economic and investment uncertainty related to COVID-19.
Both organizations are also working on a €15 million “SME Access to Finance” Risk Sharing Facility Agreement granted by the EU’s European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), that will support loans to SMEs worth €95 million.
This facility agreement follows on from the EIB’s signing of a €12.5 million loan to Ecobank Malawi in December 2020, to improve access to finance for SMEs in Malawi’s agricultural sector to expand, upgrade, and modernize their equipment.
