Africa SME Champions Forum partners commit over $40 million to support Africa’s SMEs

Posted on 2022-10-17 by gnhongo in Financial, Small Business // 0 Comments

KAMPALA, UGANDA, 2022-Oct-17 — /EPR Network/ — The 7^th edition of the Africa SME Champions Forum came to a successful close at Speke Resort Munyonyo, in Kampala, Uganda. The event, co-hosted by the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA) and empowered by AfricSearch, brought together more than 400 of Africa’s top SMEs, institutional funding organisations, venture capitalists, angel investors and ecosystem builders exceeding expected numbers.

The Forum discussed key mechanisms through which SMEs can be supported to grow and impact the African economy significantly. BADEA indicated that $300 million had been committed to SMEs during 2022 with $40 million more allocated to SMEs.

“Like many of you here today, BADEA realizes the transformative potential & the economic power of African SMEs in achieving #BADEA’s vision to promote Arab-Africa Economic cooperation.”- said H.E. Dr. Fahad Abdullah Al-Dossari, Chairman of BADEA’s Board.

Dr. Al-Dossari added that the BADEA’s 2030 strategy has dedicated a pillar on supporting SMEs with a special focus on women & youth and that BADEA supports the SME sector through a large span of products from bank multiple windows.

“SMEs play an important role in Africa’s economic development. They provide 70% of jobs created, over 40% of the continent’s GDP and they are an engine for transformation and innovation. Therefore, investing in them means we are investing in Africa’s future. Our partnership with the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA) will be a catalyst in accelerating the development of the SMEs across Africa,” said Mr. Didier Acouetey, Chairman of the Forum and Group President of AfricSearch.

The event saw commitments of support both financially and technically from other organizations across Africa and the world including the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), Uganda Development Bank (UDB), East Africa Development Bank, Smart Africa, the U.S. African Development Foundation and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation among others.

“The guarantee product can play a huge role in de-risking the investment or the flow of money from the one who has access to money to those who need it,” commented Jules Ngankam, Group Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund.

“This Forum has been a resounding success through the partnership engagement, financial commitments to SMEs and the capacity building opportunities. It isn’t enough to make funds available but SMEs need to be empowered to ensure that they are ready to scale and to take up the funding. Our role now is to make key strides over the next 12 months to achieve this,” said Mr. Didier Acouetey, the Forum’s founder and Chairman.

Awards were also given to winners across five categories, namely:

Women Entrepreneur of the year: Hadiatou Diallo Barry of Akiba Finance (Guinea)
SME of the year: Maryse Mbonyumutwa of Asantii (Rwanda)
Special recognition award winner: Ibrahima Cheick Diong, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Group Director General · African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group
Startup of the Year: Sparkle Agro Brands – Miss Jovia Kisaakye (Uganda)
Financial Institution supporting SMEs: Centenary Rural Development Bank (Uganda)

Among the initiatives launched at the end of the forum:

– The SME investment fund project that will be sponsored by BADEA;

– The constitution of a league of African SME Champions who will constitute the spearhead of the economic partnerships that the African continent will establish with other continents or other countries; this initiative will be supported by the FSA (African Solidarity Fund);

– A partnership program between large companies and SMEs in order to strengthen the technical and organizational capacities of SMEs; this program would be done in partnership with the UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The Forum continues to find ways to institutionalize the support that it lends to SMEs across Africa to ensure that the support is made available all year round and has a lasting impact.

End.

ABOUT THE AFRICA SME CHAMPIONS FORUM

The AFRICA SME CHAMPIONS FORUM is the foremost gathering dedicated to supporting the growth of African SMEs. It brings together nearly 500 participants, including Business Leaders, financial institutions, a selection of start-ups and experts in SME development, in a 2-day exchange that fosters new bottom-up practical and operational solutions to the financing and growth challenges faced by SMEs in Africa.

The Africa SME Champions Forum has been running since 2014 with the objective of improving the SME landscape and providing growth support to SMEs – the engine of the African economies.

The Africa SME Champions Forum has been running since 2014 with the objective of improving the SME landscape and providing growth support to SMEs – the engine of the African economies

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