The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a loan of €73.72 million to Senegal to implement the second phase of the project to support and promote entrepreneurial initiatives by women and young people.
This loan is in addition to a grant of €841,000 from Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a Bank programme aimed at bridging the financing gap for women entrepreneurs on the continent. The new loan will bring the Bank Group's total financing of the project to €74.54 million, or 45.6 percent of the total cost. The government of Senegal will provide €38.11 million and the French development agency, Agence Française de Développement, will contribute €25 million.
Commercial banks, microfinance institutions and other partners will contribute a total of €25.8 million to co-finance structuring of entrepreneurial initiatives for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) run by young people and women. This structuring work will be an integral part of the project.
"This second phase of the project is specifically designed to benefit young people aged between 15 and 40 and all economically active women. The objective is to support implementation of the job creation strategy for young people and women through the promotion and development of entrepreneurship," said Mohamed Chérif, head of the AfDB's country office in Senegal.
The project focus is on building technical capacity by addressing the specific needs of entrepreneurs: skills training, training in business creation and post-creation monitoring. Support will be provided for preparation of business plans, management training and assistance with the tasks of labelling and improving the quality of products, including green products.
The project will also support the integration of new technologies into the manufacturing and operating procedures of MSMEs, product standardisation and certification, information support and assistance in accessing the export market, including participation in international trade fairs and facilitating access to national public procurement.
