Nigeria, Others to Benefit from AfDB’s 3.2 Million Swiss Francs

• Nigeria, Others to Benefit from AfDB’s 3.2 Million Swiss Francs

Nigeria is among the African countries that will benefit from 3.2 million Swiss francs donated to the African Development Bank by The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Government of the Swiss Confederation.

A statement on Thursday said SECO and AfDB signed two agreements to fund African initiatives on the sidelines of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings.

SECO contributed three million Swiss francs to the Entrepreneurship Lab for innovative young entrepreneurs and 200,000 Swiss francs to the Urban and Municipal Development Fund for Africa, which aims to help African cities plan and manage urban growth and climate-resilient development by improving governance and basic services.

The statement described the E-Lab as a component of the AfDB’s ‘Boost Africa’ strategy, that aims to provide innovative young entrepreneurs with financing, technical assistance and broader ecosystem support through incubators, accelerators, fund managers and others.

According to the statement, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa had been named as countries that would participate in the pilot of the initiative.

“These days, it’s important that partners work together … to put talents together in a complementary fashion … These are two areas which are forward-leaning and positive for the African continent,” Bank Governor for Switzerland, Raymund Furrer, was quoted as saying.

Furrer signed the agreements on behalf of SECO at the Sipopo Conference Centre in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea while the bank’s Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer, Bajabulile Tshabalala, signed on behalf of the bank.