Proparco and the NSIA Group have signed a new partnership to finance Ivorian companies. It was on the occasion of the visit of the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno Le Maire.

The Choose Africa Resilience portfolio guarantee granted by Proparco will cover 2.5 billion CFA francs of loans granted by NSIA BANQUE to entrepreneurs. It will enable NSIA BANQUE to offer loans guaranteed at 80% by the AFD Group to small and medium-sized Ivorian companies weakened by the crisis. NSIA BANQUE is the second financial institution to deploy this exceptional guarantee in Côte d'Ivoire.

After examination of the requests for financing by the bank, companies with less than 200 people affected by the crisis will be able to be granted loans of 12 to 48 months. These loans could represent up to 3 months of turnover for the year 2019. This offer of loans guaranteed at 80% by the AFD Group is part of the new Resilience component of the French initiative Choose Africa and was made possible thanks to the support of the French government.

“For nearly 10 years, the AFD Group and the NSIA Group have been working together to improve access to financing for small and medium-sized businesses in Côte d'Ivoire. This relationship of trust between our two institutions allows us today to deploy the Choose Africa Resilience guarantee, a new AFD Group tool developed specifically to meet the needs of VSEs/SMEs affected by the crisis,” said Fatoumata SISSOKO-SY, Director Regional Proparco for West Africa.
Jean Kacou DIAGOU, Chairman and CEO of the NSIA group, added that SMEs are the least resilient companies in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. They must therefore benefit from reinforced support.