During the visit of the French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, Mr. Bruno Le Maire, Proparco and the NSIA Group signed a new partnership to finance Ivorian companies. The Choose Africa Resilience portfolio guarantee granted by Proparco will cover 2,500,000,000 XOF (€ 3.75M) in loans granted by NSIA BANQUE to entrepreneurs.
NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire is one of the main financial institutions in Côte d’Ivoire, benefiting from recognized expertise in financing agriculture and SMEs. Since 2012, the NSIA Group and the AFD Group have maintained an important partnership for the development of the private sector in Côte d’Ivoire.
The portfolio guarantee granted today by Proparco will enable NSIA BANQUE to offer loans guaranteed at 80% by the AFD Group to small and medium-sized Ivorian companies weakened by the crisis. NSIA BANQUE is the second financial institution to deploy this exceptional guarantee in Côte d’Ivoire.
After the bank examines requests for financing, businesses with fewer than 200 people affected by the crisis may be granted loans of 12 to 48 months. These loans could represent up to 3 months of the turnover for the year 2019.
This offer of loans guaranteed at 80% by AFD Group is part of the new Resilience component of the French Choose Africa initiative, and was made possible thanks to the support of the French government. Launched in November 2020 in response to the crisis, this one billion euros Resilience component brings the Choose Africa initiative to support start-ups, micro-businesses and SMEs in Africa to 3.5 billion euros.
“For nearly 10 years, AFD Group and NSIA Group have worked together to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized Ivorian businesses. This relationship of trust between our two institutions allows us today to deploy the Choose Africa Resilience guarantee, a new AFD Group tool developed specifically to meet the needs of VSEs / SMEs affected by the crisis. “Said Fatoumata SISSOKO-SY, Regional Director of Proparco for West Africa.
“SMEs are the least resilient companies in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. They must therefore benefit from enhanced support. We are pleased and honored to be the second bank to deploy the Choose Africa Resilience program portfolio guarantee. This tool complements the NSIA Banque system in favor of the most vulnerable SMEs, supported Jean Kacou DIAGOU, Chairman and CEO of the NSIA group.
