Ecobank gets €100m from EIB for African SMEs post-Covid recovery

Ecobank Group, the pan-African lender, has inked an agreement with European Investment Bank (EIB) for a €100 million long-term credit facility with a nine-year tenor.

The bank said in a statement that the facility affirms the joint targeted support of the two financial institutions for business investment across the continent with particular support for the sectors that are most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This recent collaboration between Ecobank Group and the European Investment Bank to support private sector investment across Africa was formally agreed at the EU Delegation to Togo in Lomé, in the presence of Koen Doens, director-general for international cooperation and development at the European Commission, while the announcement was made during a Team Europe visit to Togo by EIB vice president, Ambroise Fayolle, Rémy Rioux, chief executive officer, Agence Française de Développement, and Koen Doens.

The agreement to the credit facility was followed up to the EIB’s signing of a €12.5 million loan to Ecobank Malawi in December 2020, to improve access to finance for SMEs in Malawi’s agricultural sector to expand, upgrade and modernise their equipment.

However, the current facility is split into three regional facilities: West & Central Africa, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. Funding will be provided through Ecobank affiliates, for investment projects undertaken by private sector companies.

Commenting on the development and what it means for the pan-African bank, Ade Ayeyemi, chief executive officer,  Ecobank Group said: “At Ecobank we are fully committed to providing a range of initiatives that support the growth and success of Africa’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and create employment opportunities.

“This informed the credit facility that we have just secured from the EIB which we believe will deliver real impact in our joint mission to develop SMEs across Africa. The €100 million facilities will support the recovery of African SMEs from the COVID-19 pandemic while also helping to provide them with the impetus to grasp the immense growth opportunities from the African Continental Free Trade Area vast single market. We thank the EIB for its focus and commitment to the continent.”

Ambroise Fayolle, vice-president of European Investment Bank, said: “The EIB, as part of Team Europe, works with leading banks and financial partners across Africa to enhance private sector access to finance. This latest cooperation with Ecobank Group will help companies to better tackle challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, unlock economic and social opportunities, especially for SMEs and women-owned and women-run enterprises, across sub-Saharan Africa in the coming weeks.”

The statement accessed by Business A.M. also revealed that the EIB facility will be accompanied by technical assistance under the AWRI (African Women Rising Initiative) programme of the EIB with gender finance-focused training and capacity building for lending to women entrepreneurs, closely aligned with the Ellevate by Ecobank initiative, which supports women-focused businesses across the continent.

Also, the credit facility was made available through the EIB’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility, for private sector entities active in eligible productive sectors, with fewer than 3,000 employees.

Meanwhile, the Ecobank Group and EIB are also working on a €15 million “SME Access to Finance” Risk Sharing Facility Agreement granted by the EU’s European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) that will support loans to SMEs worth €95 million.