Support Impact Investing in West Africa

Rob Schneider and romi Bhatia, from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) published an article on the collaborative platform Business Fights Poverty, explaining the Agency's strategy to promote sustainable and small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.

An occasion to recall the partnerships developped by USAID to achieve that goal through its ''Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship'' (PACE) Program, among which a partnership with Investisseurs & Partenaires launched late 2016 (see below).

>> Read the article

Extracts

"Through the U.S. Global Development Lab, the Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship Initiative builds partnerships to test new and innovative ways to invest in entrepreneurs. At Sankalp Africa, for example, many attendees mentioned a desire for more connections with local impact investors. USAID is partnering with Investisseurs et Partenaires  to support the creation of impact investing funds in West Africa, a market underserved by larger investment firms."

"At USAID, we invest in strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem—from recruiting and retaining talent, to accessing seed-stage finance and affordable advising services. By supporting a business-enabling environment in Africa and providing entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed, USAID aims to encourage more private investment into a continent whose entrepreneurial spirit has incredible potential to drive sustainable development."

About I&P and USAID partnerhsip

I&P and USAID launched a partnership in October 2016 in order to start an innovative acceleration program in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The alliance aims to bring high potential start-ups and Small Growing Businesses (SGBs) to an “investment ready status”, with the underlying objective of building a sustainable entrepreneurial support ecosystem in these financially underserved countries.

The main objective of the partnership is to facilitate access to finance for 52 SGBs in the next three years. The program will use a combination of seed funding, in the form of small no-interest no-collateral loans, and high-touch coaching by expert investment teams in order to maximize the chances of the SGBs to raise follow-on funding.

>> Click here to read more on the partnership