SENEGAL – Proparco, a Development Finance Institution partly owned by the French Development Agency (AFD), has granted a new portfolio guarantee to BICIS, for Very Small Enterprises (VSEs) and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Senegal.

BICIS will offer loans that are 80% guaranteed by AFD Group the VSEs and SMEs. BICIS is the third financial institution to deploy this exceptional guarantee in Senegal.

Since the beginning of their collaboration in 2005, Proparco and BICIS have gradually strengthened their partnership to support a growing number of MSMEs. This relationship makes BICIS one of the main beneficiaries of the risk sharing mechanisms deployed by AFD Group.

After BICIS has examined the financing requests, companies with fewer than 200 employees and affected by the crisis will be able to receive 12-to-48-month loans. These loans can represent up to 3 months of the turnover of the year 2019.

This loan offer, 80% guaranteed by AFD Group, is part of the new Resilience component of the French Choose Africa initiative and has been made possible thanks to the support of the French government.

Launched in November 2020 in response to the crisis, this €1 billion (US$1.20bn) Resilience component brings the Choose Africa initiative to €3.5 billion (US$4.19bn) to support startups, VSEs and SMEs in Africa.

“The launch of the Choose Africa initiative in 2018 has enabled AFD Group to strengthen its network of partners highly committed to financing MSMEs in Africa,” said Pierre MASPOLI, who is in charge of Proparco’s Dakar office.

“The quality of our relationship with BICIS now allows us to provide tailored and specific support to the needs of small businesses that have been severely affected by the crisis.”

As part of its €1.2 billion (US$1.44bn) Health Priority Plan, the Agency supported the Pasteur Institutes of Senegal, Guinea, Niger, Central African Republic and Madagascar, in order to help them delay the peak of the ‘epidemic.

With the Alima Initiative (Alliance for International Medical Action), it has supported the actions of the ministries of health of Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa and the DRC.

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