NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, January 27, 2014

VENTURES AFRICA – African Guarantee Fund (AGF) has entered into an agreement with Diamond Bank to support the lender’s microcredit to small businesses in the region to the tune of $25 Million.

One of the major constraints faced by small businesses is the restricted access to credit. MSMEs cannot access finance due to unavailable or inadequate collateral security, lack of financial or other records and are therefore perceived as highly risky by banks.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, African Guarantee Fund, Mr. Felix Bikpo, “In Africa, majority of the economic growth is trade driven. Once trade is backed out, we have little or nothing. What we are doing in the AGF is to partner with like-minded institutions to provide adequate support for MSMEs to function actively in the sector. We are glad to partner with Diamond Bank as we have found their MSME support strategy to be the right one.”