Atlantic Business International (ABI), a holding company owned by the Morocco-based Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) Group, recently entered an agreement with the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) whereby EIB will fund half of EUR 130 million (USD 138 million) in funding to be distributed via ABI’s Banque Atlantique institutions in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. The funds are to be directed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps with the goal of
Tag: Senegal
SPECIAL REPORT: Solar-powered Onions in Senegal, Meso-insurance Against Storms in Nicaragua, Performance-based Interest Rate Reductions for Climate-smart Lending in India
In a session on strengthening agricultural value chains today at European Microfinance Week, Daphne van Dam of Cordaid described her organization’s work to support onion farmers in Senegal. The farmers were struggling with the cost of fuel for irrigation. Cordaid was able to partner with local microfinance and solar providers to supply farmers with solar-powered irrigation systems that they could pay for on a schedule attuned to the harvest time of their crop.
Magdalena Arbelaez of Incofin described her firm’s work enabling insurance for farmers in Nicaragua. Rather than microinsurance, which would have been unworkable for many of the smallholder farmers in the region, the project extended
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1m to VisionFund Senegal for Microfinance Lending
The Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation recently announced a local-currency loan worth the equivalent of EUR 1 million (USD 1 million) to VisionFund Senegal, which is controlled by the US-based, Christian nonprofit World Vision International. VisionFund Senegal provides
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CAURIE-MF Borrows $2.6m from Huruma Fund to Expand Agricultural Microfinance in Senegal
Spain’s Gawa Capital, the manager of the public-private partnership Huruma Fund, recently disbursed a loan of EUR 2.5 million (USD 2.6 million) from the fund to Coopérative Autonome pour le Renforcement des Initiatives Économiques par la Micro finance (CAURIE-MF), a microfinance institution in Senegal, with the objective of creating employment opportunities by expanding
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Baobab+ Borrows $5.1m from Symbiotics to Boost Solar Electrification in 6 Countries in Africa
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investor focused on small businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently extended a loan of EUR 5 million (USD 5.1 million) to Baobab+, a French energy and technology company, with the objective of increasing electrification rates in Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Founded in 2015, Baobab+ provides access to solar energy and digital technology with the goal of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oolu Solar of Senegal Raises $8.5m in Equity with Participation from All On, DPI Energy, Gaia Impact, Persistent, RP Global
Oolu Solar, a Senegal-based startup aiming to provide affordable solar energy in West Africa, recently closed its Series B round of funding at USD 8.5 million, with Austria-based RP Global acting as the lead investor. Other participants included
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Loans $14m to COFINA for Microfinance, SMEs in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, which is also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently disbursed a loan to Guinea-based microfinance group Compagnie Financiere Africaine (COFINA) to be distributed to its subsidiaries in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Of the loan proceeds, EUR 7.5 million (USD 8.2 million) is flowing to COFINA Senegal, and EUR 5 million (USD 5.5 million) is going to COFINA Côte d’Ivoire, which is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Producer of Dolima Dairy Products in Senegal, Laiterie de Berger, Borrows $260k from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation
Laiterie de Berger, a dairy products producer in Senegal, has received a loan of EUR 229,000 (USD 260,000) in the form of a shareholder’s current account from the Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg. Laiterie de Berger purchases milk from herders
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $113k to Société Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires (SFA) for Rice-storage Facility in Senegal
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently issued a loan of EUR 100,000 (USD 113,000) to Société Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires (SFA) to finance a rice storage facility. SFA buys rice from 1,500 farmers in the Senegal River Valley; processes it into
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Disburses 4-year Loan of $873k to CAURIE-MF for Microfinance in Senegal
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently issued a four-year loan approximately equivalent to USD 873,000 in favor of Coopérative Autonome pour le Renforcement des Initiatives Économiques par la Micro Finance (CAURIE-MF) to support its microlending in Senegal. CAURIE-MF is a savings and credit cooperative supporting the “economic and social promotion