Through a portfolio guarantee that will cover €1,000,000 (i.e. XOF 656,000,000) of loans granted by COFINA, Proparco is reaffirming its commitment to Senegalese MSMEs affected by the crisis.
Thanks to its role in financial inclusion and its ability to support entrepreneurs in the formal and informal sectors, the pan-African mesofinance group COFINA is a key partner of AFD Group. Present in 8 countries in West and Central Africa, COFINA has been active in Senegal since 2014.
The portfolio guarantee granted by Proparco will enable COFINA Senegal to better meet the needs of Senegalese small and medium-sized enterprises.
After examination of the financing requests by the COFINA Group, companies with less than 200 employees affected by the crisis may be granted loans of 12 to 48 months. These loans, which can represent up to 3 months of turnover in 2019, will be 80% guaranteed by AFD Group.
This 80% guaranteed loan offer is part of the new Resilience component of the French initiative Choose Africa and has been made possible thanks to the support of the French government. Launched in November 2020 in response to the crisis, this €1 billion Resilience component brings the Choose Africa initiative to €3.5 billion to support start-ups, VSEs and SMEs in Africa.
COFINA is the second Proparco partner to deploy this exceptional guarantee in Senegal. This partnership is also Proparco’s second operation with the COFINA Group in less than a year. In May 2020, Proparco had indeed granted a €10 million credit line to support COFINA’s activities in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
“The French Choose Africa initiative launched in 2018, as well as its reinforcement in 2020 in response to the crisis, testify to France’s strong commitment to start-ups, VSEs and SMEs, which play a fundamental role in the economy, job creation and people’s access to essential goods and services. It is these innovative and committed players that we will be celebrating in July in Montpellier as part of the Africa-France Summit,” said H.E. Philippe Lalliot, Ambassador of France to Senegal.
“By signing a second operation with COFINA in less than a year, Proparco is accelerating its efforts towards Senegalese small and medium-sized enterprises. We are happy to be able to count on the experience and network of our partner to finance small businesses, which are particularly affected by the crisis we are going through,” continued Pierre Maspoli, in charge of Proparco’s Dakar office.
Mr. Alassane DIA, General Manager of COFINA Senegal declared that “After a first financing operation, the partnership between Proparco and Cofina is enriched by a new innovative product particularly adapted to support SMEs in these times of crisis. The Choose Africa guarantee is an excellent, flexible and pragmatic tool that should enable Cofina to pursue its raison d’être: to support the country’s SMEs, particularly those in the informal sector, which are the main providers of employment.”