- UBA, AFD to Finance African SMEs
United Bank for Africa Plc and Agence Française de Development, France’s public and solidarity-based development bank, have entered into a framework agreement to utilise the EURIZ and ARIZ schemes offered by AFD to facilitate the financing of the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises and startups across the 20 countries where UBA operates in Africa.
The new partnership, an offshoot of the strategic relationship both institutions have had over the years, will enhance UBA’s capacity to finance the SMEs in Nigeria and 19 other African countries.
According to a statement by the pan-African lender, the AFD will use the financial structure availed by UBA to reach out to many SMEs across Africa.
The AFD’s EURIZ project helps the financially underserved MSMEs to receive loans for business development and sustainable jobs.
AFD designed ARIZ risk-sharing facility as one of the financial tools to give the SMEs easier access to financing from financial institutions.
In the same vein, ARIZ helps financial institutions to deal with their SME risk and thereby help them develop their loan activity for micro-enterprises, SMEs and microfinance institutions.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Kennedy Uzoka, was quoted to have said, “Our partnership with Agence Française de Development is novel as the scheme being introduced will enable us to reach the various markets in our presence countries and would empower the SMEs across Africa through the provision of financial access, critical to their survival,”
“With this partnership, we will be able to derive value from a world-class financial institution which we believe is critical in growing wealth on the continent in the long-term,” Uzoka further stated.
The Deputy Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, AFD, Mrs. Cecile Couprie, was quoted as saying, “It is an honour for us at the AFD to work with UBA to promote the development of African countries.”
