Browsing: IFC

• Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has received a $30 million loan facility from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help the bank expand lending. 
• The facility will allow Union Bank to increase trade financing and working capital lending to Nigerian businesses.
• The loan facility to Union Bank is being made through IFC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Working Capital Solutions Envelope, which was launched in 2020. 

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has received a $30 million loan facility from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help the bank expand lending to hundreds of businesses operating in critical sectors in the country that  include food, healthcare, manufacturing, and services.

The facility will allow Union Bank to increase trade financing and working capital lending to Nigerian businesses, including those whose cashflows have been strained by recent disruptions in global and local markets.

“As a bank, we are deeply committed to enabling success for …

The Guide mainly covers three key areas – understanding the asset class and where it sits alongside other asset classes, why and how to invest in PEs and an overview of the benefits and risks of investing in PE.

The development of the guide was informed by a market study report that sought to investigate the low uptake of investment by pension schemes.

In Kenya, for instance, PE allocations by pension schemes account for only 0.08 per cent of the total industry assets under management. From a regulatory perspective, there are provisions allowing pensions to invest in PE funds across East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia).

According to Kenya’s pension regulator, the Retirements Benefits Authority (RBA), though the country has had regulations that provide for diversification of pension funds away from traditional instruments, most pension schemes are still predominantly bond and stock investors.…

• The continent internet economy can reach $180 billion by 2025, accounting for 5.2 per cent of Africa’s GDP
• Africa’s access to the internet stands at  40 per cent, according to Google
• With more than 1.3 billion people, Africa lags behind the rest of the world in internet connectivity as it has only 22 per cent in connectivity

Africa’s digital economy is expanding quite fast. The continent internet economy can reach $180 billion by 2025, accounting for 5.2 per cent of Africa’s GDP, according to information from IFC.

Doubling down on the latter, by 2050, the projected potential contribution could reach $712 billion, 8.5 per cent of the continent’s GDP (IFC). Internet in Africa is the new gold as it facilitates the growth of technology-driven sectors, transforming communities’ economies.

Internet in Africa is transforming economies of fast-growing countries that also record a large share of internet users in the region, such …

This as 19 per cent of people in sub-Saharan Africa lived in areas not covered by mobile networks while an additional 53 per cent did not use mobile internet despite having coverage.

The need for accessible internet solutions comes after Meta (formerly Facebook) announced plans to shut down its low-cost Express Wi-Fi internet.

The programme was launched back in 2016 to drive internet connectivity in regions where other forms of connectivity, like ADSL and fibre-optic networks, aren’t readily available or established.…

The Kenyan bank said it would use the loan to help it increase working capital and trade-related lending to its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients in Kenya, especially those facing COVID-19 related challenges.

The loan from IFC is one of the single-largest credit facilities to a Kenyan lender.

Besides shoring up the bank’s capital base, the new loan will also be lent to customers, fitting IFC’s’ impact investing criteria.

IFC encourages the banks it funds to lend to women-owned enterprises and climate-related ventures such as renewable energy projects.…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is launching a new advisory program to improve women’s employment opportunities in Egypt.

IFC which is a member of the World Bank Group aims at highlighting how Egypt’s private sector companies can invest in the county’s large, underutilized female talent and spur economic growth.

In a statement by the corporation, IFC said the program will run for three years and will help create family-friendly, flexible workplaces to make Egyptian businesses more resilient, agile and inclusive, especially in times of crises.

In 2019, only 24 per cent of working-age women participated in Egypt’s labour market in 2019, compared to 75 per cent of men. If women and men participated equally, the country’s GDP could rise by 34 per cent.

“The participation of women is macro-critical, it is no longer lip service, all stakeholders from the public and private sector as well as IFIs are coming together …

Africa’s close development partner, World Bank—on Thursday took a serious initiative to restore its relations with Somalia, after being dull for almost 30 years

According to the statement from World Bank Group, the bank’s Board of Executive Directors moved toward normalizing its relations with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS).

World Bank anticipates that the restoration will open up opportunities for Somalia to access concessional financing from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and to work closely with all arms of the World Bank Group to attract investment that will support the country’s stability and development.

The restoration could revitalize Somalia’s economic sphere, as the nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth weakened in 2017 due to the severe drought. Although Somalia averted widespread famine in 2017, the drought led to large-scale food insecurity, affecting more than six million people.

In that context, World Bank Vice President for Africa …

International Finance Corporation (IFC) has unveiled an investment of up to EUR050mn in Habesha Breweries S.C. to help the company expand its operations in Ethiopia and increase local barley sourcing from smallholder farmers.

The loan is co-funded by the Dutch development bank (FMO) and Dutch banks Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. (Rabobank) and ING Bank N.V. (ING Bank).

 Habesha was initiated by a group of local Ethiopian investors in 2009 and it has grown to be the sole supplier of inflight drinks at Ethiopian. The company is currently owned by Swinkels Family Brewers Holding N.V. (60%), 8,000 local shareholders (30%), and Linssen Participations B.V. (10%).

Ethiopia’s brewing industry is fast growing and an important contributor to economic growth, but the sector imports as much as 90 percent of its malt barley needs. In addition to the financing, IFC and FMO will help Habesha support farmers’ access to improved seed varieties and other …

IFC and IFHA-II Coöperatief U.A., a private equity fund focused on health care in Sub-Saharan Africa, have launched a $115 million holding company to acquire and integrate targeted health care service businesses in East and Southern Africa.

The project will boost access to quality health care services to help improve lives and achieve universal health coverage across the region.  IFC is investing $22 million in the Hospital Holdings Investment (HHI) holding company, an investment platform set up by IFHA-II, which is also supported by the European development finance organizations Swedfund, Proparco, Finnfund and IFU, Danish Investment Fund for Developing countries. HHI will be IFC’s largest equity investment in health care in Sub-Saharan Africa, outside of South Africa. IFC also mobilized $43.2 million from other investors.

“HHI is filling a critical gap in the health care sector by providing secondary and out-of-hospital care for middle to lower middle income patients in …