The African Guarantee Fund gets $30M from KfW to better support African SMEs

Finance

Tuesday, 14 January 2020 11:37

The African Guarantee Fund gets $30M from KfW to better support African SMEs

(Togo First) - The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) has secured $33 million from the German development bank, KfW. The facility will mostly be used to back small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the continent.

The fund indeed declares that the monies should “bolster its efforts - in line with its mission - to help African SMEs to keep playing an important part in the growth of African economies, by spurring financial inclusion especially.”

Let’s indicate that the AGF, at the continental level, wants to provide financial guarantees to more than 10,000 SMEs, yearly. In West Africa particularly, the institution targets 2,000 SMEs, per year on average, per country.

So far, guarantees provided by the fund for African SMEs amount to nearly $1.7 billion. About 20,000 SMEs benefited from this support - 60% of which are held by youths, while 30% are by women.

In Togo, the AGF, whose West African division is based in Lomé, signed a deal with the Risk-based Agricultural Financing Incentive Mechanism (MIFA S.A), last July. Under the agreement, the AGF will guarantee 50% of funds needed for projects submitted by MIFA S.A to its partners. The two parties, MIFA and AGF, also work on financial tools more suited to Togo’s agricultural sector.

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REFORMS OVERVIEW

STARTING A BUSINESS (more info)

At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS (more info)

In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

After moving from the 133rd to 127th place under the 2020 Doing Business’ construction permit index, Togo intends to reiterate this feat in the coming edition of the global ranking. To this end, it has introduced this year multiple reforms.

GETTING ELECTRICITY (more info)

Over the past two years, Togo’s ranking under the Doing Business’ Getting electricity and water indicator has increased consistently. Owing this performance to multiple reforms aimed at making it easier for businesses to access power and water, Lomé plans to introduce even more reforms this year to keep up its improvements.

REGISTERING A PROPERTY (more info)

Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

To improve its business environment, Togo introduced some important reforms related to the payment of tax and duties. From the replacement of some taxes to the cancellation of others through exemptions, the country has only one objective: offer the most attractive tax framework to investors and economic operators. To achieve this, the authorities relied on digitization.