The AAF agreed an initial commitment of US$ 30 million for the AAF SME Fund whose target final close is US$ 80 million.

The Fund is being promoted by the Agence Française de Dévéloppement (AFD) and PROPARCO, the Spanish Government (AECID), African Development Bank (AfDB); Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Banque Ouest Africaine de Dévéloppement (BOAD), ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and Phatisa, AAF’s Fund Manager. The AAF SME Fund is managed by Databank Agrifund Manager Limited, a member of the Databank Group (Accra, Ghana). 

Investments will be complemented by a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) primarily funded by the EU (European Union), managed by IFAD and implemented by Technoserve, with additional contributions from the Italian Development Cooperation, UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa). TAF will support the management teams of the AAF SME Fund portfolio companies with strategic, operational and technical expertise to enhance their growth. With up to US$ 500,000 of assistance available per business, this provides a significant opportunity to bolster and build the AAF SME investments.

INVESTMENT CRITERIA

The AAF SME Fund’s investment policy mirrors that of the AAF, with the key difference being that the AAF SME Fund has an investment limit of US$ 4 million per transaction. The Fund will also, in line with World Bank definition of an SME, only invest in companies with gross assets less than US$ 15 million and fewer than 300 employees. SMEs offer significant growth opportunities and have an important impact on economic development and job creation. These small and medium businesses (formal and informal) represent the real economy and remain the key for the economic development of the continent.

OUR PARTNERS AND THE AAF SME FUND MANAGER