AfDB Signs Grant Agreement for 550 Million CFA Francs to Support Young Entrepreneurs in Côte d'Ivoire

4 September 2015
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

On September 4, 2015 in Abidjan, the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed a grant agreement of 558.970 million CFA francs (US $947,625) with the General Confederation of Côte d'Ivoire Businesses (CGECI) to support and develop young entrepreneurs in Côte d'Ivoire.

The grant agreement was signed by the AfDB Vice-President Responsible for Infrastructure, the Private Sector and Regional Integration, Solomon Asamoah, and CGECI President Jean Kacou Diagou.

This grant is intended for 200 young entrepreneurs to be selected after a national competition, to develop their business plans and give them access to funding.

This project is one of the many AfDB interventions within the general framework of its cooperation with Côte d'Ivoire and its support for major national focus areas, particularly youth employment and the development of entrepreneurship.

Speaking after signing the agreement, Vice-President Asamoah welcomed the fruitful relations between the Bank and Japan that have resulted in the establishment of the funding which was, he said, "an opportunity for young Africans. Support for financial inclusion and entrepreneurship for young people is extremely important to the AfDB and will help them to turn their dreams into reality."

President Diagou expressed his gratitude to AfDB for its support, noting that by supporting young people the Bank was supporting the whole nation in innovative projects, helping them in this way to create small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that will become major enterprises. "It is important that many of the young people coming onto the labour market are now turning to entrepreneurship," he emphasized.

"The AfDB has set financial inclusion at the centre of its strategy for the development of the financial sector. This project, which will give 200 young people access to funding, will give the boost that is so often unavailable to the young people of our continent, who are not short of ideas or initiative," added Robert Masumbuko, Acting Head of the AfDB's Financial Inclusion Division.

The project was made possible through the Japanese and Austrian Governments' Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA). FAPA is managed by the AfDB and since its inception it has funded more than 50 projects in 38 countries across the African continent totalling over US $60 million.

More information on FAPA is available at: www.afdb.org/fr/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/fund-for-african-private-sector-assistance/enhanced-private-sector-assistance-for-africa-epsa-initiative/

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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