African Guarantee Fund and Banque Internationale pour l’Industrie et le Commerce (BIIC) signed a guarantee agreement today, at AGF West Africa’s headquarters in Lomé.

The new portfolio guarantee facility aims to promote the financing of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Industries (SMEs). The guarantee will also support green financing through AGF’s Green Guarantee Facility and women’s entrepreneurship through the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA).

Bendjin Kpeglo, Managing Director of AGF West Africa, said: “This guarantee agreement that AGF is signing with BIIC supports the measures already taken by this leading financial institution in Benin, which helps businesses access financing for their projects and initiatives in order to support the development of the Beninese economy.

He added that the combined efforts of the two institutions would enable BIIC to develop its SME financing business, which would not only significantly reduce transaction costs, but also increase returns on investment.

“Our ambition is to support strategic projects in the private sector, as well as SMEs. To achieve this, we combine innovation, flexibility and quality of service to international standards, in order to offer our partners appropriate and effective financing tools, enabling them to achieve their growth objectives more quickly”, stated the Managing Director of BIIC, Arsène Dansou.

This partnership will enable BIIC to:

– Finance the development of the activities of Benin’s SMEs.

– Play a major role in the development of Benin’s economy.

– Increase its market competitiveness by optimising the time taken to obtain financial guarantees.

– Increase the size of its balance sheet.

The two parties agree that this new agreement will not only consolidate the partnership between the two institutions, but will also enable them to refine their strategy for supporting companies with high-potential projects.