Skip to main content

News Release - APO Group


If you cannot read that message click here.
APO Group content is copyright free and can be republished at will.

PRESS RELEASE
The African Guarantee Fund joins African Banker Awards as platinum sponsor capping a remarkable year for the fund
This year’s awards will take place in Busan, Korea during the AfDB’s annual meetings in May
LONDON, United Kingdom, March 23, 2018/ -- The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) (www.AfricanGuaranteeFund.com) was officially launched in 2012, as an initiative of the African Development Bank alongside the governments of Spain and Denmark to help financial institutions lend more to SMEs by providing guarantees against risk of defaults. In the last two years the AGF has added the Nordic Development Fund and France’s AFD as shareholders.

It has been a remarkable year for the Fund. Late last year it received an AA- rating from Fitch, something Felix Bikpo, the Fund’s CEO said would help attract new partners and help it better leverage its balance sheet as well as reduce the cost of capital for SMEs as it would be able to provide its services at a lower cost.

Earlier this month in London, the AGF signed a $74m re-guarantee agreement with GuarantCo that will enable it to further leverage its balance sheet to lend to SMEs servicing the infrastructure sector. Too often the constraints for SMEs is the lack of infrastructure such as power, connectivity or strong logistical nodes, and financing SMEs that are contributing to bridging this gap will have a twin effect of both supporting SMEs in the sector and other SMEs that will benefit from improved infrastructure.

Over the past 6 years, AGF has led the guarantee market in Africa by issuing financial guarantees enabling lending to the tune of USD $700 million to approximately 8,000 SMEs. As it continues to strengthen its capital base it intends to continue using its balance sheet to enable another $1bn of loans to this asset class, which Bikpo feels is the only one that can truly enable a truly diversified economy.

The African Guarantee Fund has this year taken the platinum sponsorship at the African Banker Awards (www.AfricanBankerAwards.com), the continent’s pre-eminent event recognising African’s best performing financial institutions. This year’s awards will take place in Busan, Korea during the AfDB’s annual meetings in May. The deadline for entering the awards has been extended until the 31st March across a range of categories including financial inclusion.

An interview with the CEO of the AGF, Felix Bikpo, will appear in the April issue of African Business.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Guarantee Fund.
Media contact:
Pedro Besugo
+44 (0) 20 7841 3232
p.besugo@icpublications.com

Note to editors

About the African Banker Awards

The African Banker Awards (www.AfricanBankerAwards.com) is the most recognized, respected and prestigious award ceremony recognising and rewarding excellence in the banking and financial sector in Africa. It is organised by African Banker magazine, published by IC Publications, one of Africa’s leading media and communications group. The Awards are held during the African Development Bank Annual Meetings, the most important gathering of African leaders in the development world. For more information visit www.AfricanBankerAwards.com

About the AGF

Officially launched on 1st June 2012, AGF (www.AfricanGuaranteeFund.com) is a Pan-African non-bank financial institution founded by the government of Denmark through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the government of Spain through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Agence Française de Développement (AFD) joined AGF in 2015 followed by the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) in 2016. AGF aims to promote economic development, increase employment and reduce poverty in Africa by providing financial institutions with guarantees and other similar or related financial products specifically intended to support SMEs in Africa. AGF has a rating of AA- by Fitch Ratings Agency.www.AfricanGuaranteeFund.com
SOURCE 
African Guarantee Fund

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MBINU ZA KUMFIKISHA MWANAMKE MWENYE MAKALIO MAKUBWA KILELENI KWA HARAKA

Kwa kawaida wanawake wanafikia kilele (mwisho wa utamu wa ngono) kati ya dakika ishirini na saa moja, yaani kwa kifupi inawachukua muda mrefu sana hali inayopelekea mpenzi mvivu kuchoka na ufanyaji wake utakuwa wa “ovyo” hali itakayo kufanya wewe kuishiwa na hamu ya kuendelea. Pamoja na kuchelewa huko ambako kunatokana na utofauti wetu kati ya mwanaume na mwanamke lakini nakumbuka hapo nyuma nilikutana na wanawake 2 waliokuwa ndani ya ndoa na wamezaa lakini hawajawahi kabisa kujua utamu wa tendo hilo alimaharufu kama “kufanya mapenzi”. Natambua kuwa ni ngumu au niseme si wanawake wote ambao wamejaaliwa kimaumbile kwamba wanafanikiwa kufika kileleni zaidi ya mara mbili kila wanapofanya mapenzi/ngono (kumbuka ni kati ya dakika 15 na saa moja hivyo Jibaba hapa awe na uwezo wa kujizuia kwa zaidi ya dk 45) na ikiwa jamaa ni “mzamiaji” basi unaweza ukaondoka na goli 3 ktk mzunguuko mmoja. Lakini kwa nini basi baadhi yao tu ndio wafike kileleni na wengine was...

Mushikiwabo to UN: Enhance civilian protection

By Eugene Kwibuka Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to invest more energy in the prevention of conflicts for better protection of civilians living in conflict-torn areas. Rwanda’s Foreign minister, Louise Mushikiwabo Louise Mushikiwabo made the call during an open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict which the UNSC held in New York on Tuesday. “Rwanda’s core message today is that enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflict requires action before a conflict starts. The proliferation of non-state armed groups makes civilian protection both more urgent, and harder to achieve,” she said. For better protection of civilians in armed-conflict areas, the minister emphasised the need to increase investments in professionalising the military and police forces through adequate training. “Only when the leadership of armed forces shares the international...

Saudi King urges U.N. action against religious insults

Saudi King Abdullah urged the United Nations to produce a resolution condemning insults on monotheistic religions after the anti-Islam film in the U.S. that sparked deadly protests in many Muslim countries last month. (AFP) By AFP, MINA/SAUDI ARABIA Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday demanded a U.N. resolution condemning insults on monotheistic religions after a low-budget film produced in the U.S. sparked deadly protests last month. “I demand a U.N. resolution that condemns any country or group that insults religions and prophets,” he said during a meeting at his palace with religious figures and heads of hajj delegations in the Mina valley where pilgrims were performing final rituals of hajj. “It is our duty and that of every Muslim to protect Islam and defend the prophets.” A low-budget film produced in the U.S., Innocence of Muslims, triggered a wave of deadly anti-American violence last month across the Muslim world targeting US symbols ranging ...