African Guarantee Fund annual general meeting kicks off in Abidjan

AGF Board of Directors (L to R) Lillian Macharia, Morten Christiansen,  Luis Barranco and Andrew Temu.

NAIROBI, KENYA: Various stakeholders are gathering in Abidjan, Ivory Coast for the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) annual general meeting.

The meeting brings together AGF shareholders and administrators, Financial Institutions, Development Finance Institutions as well as various socio-economic partners. 

The choice of this year’s theme SMEs: Driving force of inclusive growth in Africa is in line with AGF’s commitment to changing the perception of economic stakeholders and promoting the rich and dynamic reality of African entrepreneurship.

 AGF’s key objective is to contribute towards inclusive growth in Africa by facilitating financial access for SMEs. With almost USD200 million of guarantees issued, AGF facilitates the issuance of more than USD400 million in financial assistance to SMEs through approximately 40 financial institutions equitably distributed on the African continent. 

The Fund’s development partners include Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), Development Credit Authority (DCA), and most recently, Nordic Development Fund (NDF). 

Objective with an eventual capital of USD500 million include USD3 billion worth of financing towards SMEs, 10,000 SMEs will benefit, 200,000 jobs will be created, 1,000,000 people will benefit from the socio-economic impact. 

The mobilisation of joint efforts from various players around SME financing will have a certain impact on the economic growth of African countries.