Botswana - Private Sector Development in Southern Africa Region Gets Boost With Approval of $30 Million Loan to Norsad Capital From African Development Bank Group

22 June 2022
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group today approved a $30 million loan to Norsad Capital Limited, a Botswana-based impact investor, to finance agro-processing, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, information & communication technology and education enterprises.

Through the funding, the Bank seeks to catalyze increased access to longer-term financing for businesses and to promote private sector development in the Southern Africa Development Community region. Norsad will channel a portion of the funding to enterprises operating in transition states within the region, and in support of inclusive growth. The expected outcome is job creation for, among other groups, youth and women in the labor-intensive agro-processing and manufacturing sectors.

"The Bank's facility will support increased lending and tenor extension of loans to Norsad's clients in line with Norsad's medium-term strategy," said Stefan Nalletamby, the African Development Bank Group's Director of Financial Sector Development.

According to Ahmed Attout, Manager of the Bank's Capital Markets Development division, the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic means institutions such as Norsad must increase their lending to the private sector to support private sector led economic recovery in the region.

The project is aligned with a number of African Development Bank priorities, including its High-5 strategic priorities. It also advances the Bank's Private Sector Development Strategy 2021-2025 and, owing to Norsad's compliance with environmental and social management standards, is in line with the Bank's Climate and Green Growth Policy and Strategy and the SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2015).

Norsad, which operates as a private non-bank financial institution, provides financing to private enterprises and financial institutions operating in the 16-member Southern African Development Community.

It is owned by eleven SADC national development agencies and four Nordic development finance institutions: Swedfund International; Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries; Denmark's Investment Fund for Developing Countries; and Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation.

Media contact: Olufemi Terry, Communication and External Relations Department| Email: o.terry@afdb.org

Technical contact: Albin Kakou, Principal Investment Officer, African Development Bank

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

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