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AFD began its operations in Ghana in 1985, opening its first representation in an English speaking country. Since 1986, AFD has concentrated its operations on major economic infrastructure development projects in the country, mainly in the telecommunications, transport and energy sectors. Photo © Paul Williams
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Assessing Credit Guarantee Schemes for SME, Finance in Africa - Evidence from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania
Angela Hansen, Ciku Kimeria, Bilha Ndirangu, Nadia Oshry and JasonWendle, Dalberg Global Development Advisors
Contact: Cécile Valadier, Research Department, AFD
The purpose of this study, focused on Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, is to contribute directly to the efforts of practitioners so that they can more effectively leverage SME financing, through better-functioning credit guarantee schemes, where appropriate. Our primary audience includes development and public organizations engaged in supporting SME access to finance,as well as banks and SME representatives looking to understand the nature of such efforts and the implications for their business.
Conference cycle on perspectives for Africa’s economy
As part of the “Ideas for Development” conference cycle, the AFD is organising three events on perspectives for Africa’s economy: "Macro-economic perspectives for Africa: sustaining growth in a more uncertain global environment", on 29 May in partnership with the IMF; "Macro-economics and politics in Africa”, on 31 May with Politique africaine and Afrique contemporaine magazines, and, on 6 June, "Who does land belong to? The transformation of African agriculture".
From 29 May to 13 June, the AFD will be organising an “Ideas for Development” cycle of five interdisciplinary conferences on a range of topic areas. These events will provide a framework for discussions on development issues with numerous experts with a professional or personal interest in this field. They are intended as a new forum for debates and meetings between researchers, students, professionals from a wide range of fields, and the general public.
The first three conferences, described below, will focus on Africa’s economy and its performance, opportunities, stumbling blocks and prospects.
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1st conference: "Macro-economic perspectives for Africa: sustaining growth in a more uncertain global environment"
2nd conference : "Macro-economics and politics in Africa"
31 May, in partnership with Politique africaine and Afrique contemporaine magazines
Although macro-economics is an area usually addressed as a theoretical corpus developed by economists and technical public policy experts, it can also be seen as above all an expression of politics. This meeting aims to offer a different perspective on macro-economics, as the theatre of social struggles and conflicts between groups that offers material to gain a better understanding of the logic of the State and the mechanisms of power. A “bottom-up” analysis of the technical aspects of macro-economics can shed light on the emergence of new players, new instruments and new positions and relationships of power – in other words, provide new ways of approaching the realities of African societies.
Speakers
Béatrice Hibou, CNRS, Sciences Po / CERI, FASOPO
Boris Samuel, SciencesPo CERI, FASOPO
To be followed by a debate with the audience.
Conference on 31 May 2011, 10 am to 12.30 pm at the AFD, 5 rue Roland Barthes, Paris 12°.
Admission free subject to seating capacity and prior registration
Find out more and register for the conference
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3rd conference: "Who does the land belong to? The transformation of African agriculture"
Signing of a loan agreement of US$ 7 M between Ghana Home Loans and Proparco, a subsidiary of AFD
PROPARCO, a subsidiary of AFD which is dedicated to financing the private sector, has granted a 10-year loan of US$ 7 million to support the growth of Ghana Home Loans (GHL). On April 25, 2012, the loan agreement was signed by Dominic Adu, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Home Loans and Julien Lefilleur, PROPARCO’s representative for West Africa, in the presence of Bruno Leclerc, Resident Manager of AFD.
It is estimated that Ghana would need 5.7 million rooms by 2020 to meet its housing needs in the urban centers. Yet, the mortgage market in Ghana is still at its infancy with mortgage loans representing less than 1% of GDP while the market potential is estimated to be around 6% of GDP.
PROPARCO’s loan will finance the expansion of Ghana Home Loans’ mortgage activities thereby assisting low and middle-income Ghanaian families in their path to homeownership. As Julien Lefilleur, PROPARCO’s representative for West Africa points out,
“PROPARCO’s investment will help develop the mortgage industry in Ghana, contributing to the country’s economic growth as well as addressing its housing shortage”.
Commenting on the signing, Dominic Adu observed that PROPARCO's facility is a further endorsement of the Ghana Home Loans track record.
“Ghana Home Loans continues to introduce innovation to the housing market. This facility shall be used to structure a new range of products that should bring home ownership even closer to the average Ghanaian”.
This operation reflects PROPARCO’s confidence in the good fundamentals and encouraging prospects of the financial sector in Ghana.
African Agriculture Fund, a first in the fight against hunger
European, African and international partners have set out to tackle the threats to Africa’s food security by pooling their resources and expertise for the first time in a single investment fund (African Agriculture Fund, AAF). The aim is to promote agricultural investments in Africa and increase agricultural production for domestic consumption.
Increasing threat to food security for Africans
The 2008 food riots revealed the number of challenges facing Africa in terms of food security:
- the uncontrolled increase in urban populations, which rely on food imports subject to price volatility in agricultural raw materials;
- the chronic dependence on emergency food aid, particularly in destabilized regions such as the Sahel zone;
- the practice of land grabbing by speculative investment funds to the detriment of the interests of village producers;
- the lack of political will to establish regional strategies based on farmers’ production sectors;
- private agricultural companies and cooperatives’ lack of own resources to increase their production and modernize industries.
African Agriculture Fund: a first
The international community has mobilized to address these issues via various initiatives. For the first time, European partners (AFD, European Union, Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Italian cooperation), African partners (ADB, BOAD, EBID, DBSA and the AGRA Foundation) and UN agencies (IFAD and UNIDO) have pooled their resources and expertise within a single investment fund (African Agriculture Fund or AAF) in order promote agricultural investments in Africa.
A palm plantation in Ghana, © AFD Agency in Ghana
Anti-money laundering and sound land management
This pan-African fund was quoted in the Final Declaration of the G20 Agriculture Meeting in June 2011. It is expected to total over $200m by July 2012 and operates throughout the agricultural value chain (production, processing and distribution), with priority given to the primary sector (cereals, livestock, aquaculture, fruit production…).
The fund’s procedures cover compliance with strict social and environmental standards, systematic due diligence on anti-money laundering and corruption and the application of a code of sound land management.
Two AAF projects already underway
AAF has already invested in two projects: the first aims to refurbish a palm oil processing plant in Sierra Leone via a $10m investment alongside financing from Finnfund . This project is part of the international community’s post conflict initiative. It involves over 8,000 independent planters and will increase production destined for the domestic market.
The fund’s second investment, worth $20m, will extend an egg production farm in Zambia and develop the different sector stakeholders (from soya production for poultry feed to distribution points, including storage improvement).
The next investments are expected to be made in French-Speaking West Africa ( Côte d’Ivoire ) and in a wide range of sectors (mineral water, sugar, crop protection…).
The fund has two instruments which more specifically target small producers or entrepreneurs: a $30m subsidiary fund earmarked for agricultural SMEs and a $15m technical assistance facility to subsidize the professional integration of small producers, capacity building and the development of services for SMEs.
Business French Training Programme: Graduation ceremony
On March 21, 2012, seventy-one (71) trainees who successfully completed the Business French Training programme financed by the French Development Agency (AFD) through a grant of EUR 1,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, were awarded their certificates, in the presence of the Minister for Trade and Industry, Honourable Hannah TETTEH and the French Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Mr Frederic CLAVIER, at Alisa Hotel in Accra.
This 3-year programme was officially launched in October 2008. A consortium made up of Alliance Française, Deloitte and Touche and Integrated Solutions respectively ensured the training, the management and the promotion of the Programme which ended in December 2011.
About 200 participants from various public Institutions and private companies have benefited from the training at Alliance Française, based on a programme established in partnership with the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Business French Training Programme was meant to offer Ghanaian businesses in the public and private sectors the opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness and to enhance their trade activities with their neighbouring French speaking counterparts.
Signing of a financing agreement between HFC Bank and Proparco
On February 21, 2012 PROPARCO (a subsidiary of AFD - Agence Française de Développement, dedicated to the financing of the private sector), represented by its Regional Representative, Julien Lefilleur, and HFC Bank, represented by its Managing Director, Asare Akuffo, signed a credit facility agreement of US$10 million, in the presence of H.E. Frédéric Clavier, Ambassador of France to Ghana and Bruno Leclerc, Resident Manager of AFD in Accra.
This eight-year credit facility will help HFC Bank to leverage its position in the SME market, which represents 60% of its portfolio, and also scale up its activities in the mortgage market in Ghana, in readiness for the demands of an improved business environment and a dynamic private sector.
This project, which is the 3rd operation of PROPARCO in the Ghanaian banking sector since 2011, will foster long-term investments in the country. It will, more globally, support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are sources of employment and levers of growth.
PROPARCO finances investments that are economically viable, socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and financially profitable. Since 2010, PROPARCO has committed € 232 million in West Africa, of which € 70 million in Ghana.
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