The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) and Vista Group Holding have formally signed a collaboration agreement. The collaboration is set to accelerate access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a special focus on women-led businesses in four West African countries: Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
This collaboration will see AGF provide a $50 million loan portfolio guarantee to support Vista Group Holding’s lending initiatives to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout its network in the selected West African nations.
The partnership’s main objective is to increase funding for SMEs in the area and aggressively promote economic development to open up growth prospects for them.
During this agreement, the group chief executive officer (AGF), Jules Ngankam, expressed his excitement to partner with Vista Group, one of the largest leading players in the West African banking landscape.
“This collaboration will leverage our combined expertise and resources to unlock the immense potential of SMEs in the region and drive inclusive economic growth through increased access to financing,” he said.
Also, the managing director of Vista Group Holding, Yao Kouassi, added that “partnering with AGF is a significant step in our mission to empower SMEs and contribute to financial inclusion across West Africa.
“This facility will enable us to expand our reach and provide crucial financial support to businesses that are driving economic development in these countries. This aligns with our goal to expand our footprint beyond the Guinean Market to ECOWAS and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMAC),” he further stated.
The country manager of the Togo branch of the African Development Bank, Wilfrid Abiola, emphasised that the partnership is a reflection of the bank’s commitment, especially through the AFAWA initiative.
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