African Guarantee Fund has issued a Loan Portfolio Guarantee to Sidian Bank to boost financing of the SME sector in Kenya. The Guarantee line worth half a billion kenya shillings will be in place for a period of 4 years starting 2021.

The partnership seeks to support the growth of SMEs through provision of guarantees for the Bank’s customer loan facilities. One of the challenges that many SMEs face in accessing credit, is lack of adequate collateral to support their borrowing.

The AGF Loan Portfolio Guarantee will enable Sidian Bank scale up their lending activities to Small and Medium sized enterprises through provision of credit facilities. Sidian has been on the frontline in its support for SME’s across the country through a number of different instruments that seeks to provide accessibility to finance.

Speaking at the signing ceremony the CEO of Sidian Bank Mr. Chege Thumbi said “At Sidian Bank, we are excited to partner with AGF in this Loan Portfolio Guarantee Facility. AGF is a valuable partner; they are as passionate as we are about supporting SME growth and success in Kenya and Africa” This last year has been particularly difficult for SMEs, having to grapple with a lot of uncertainty. We expect that this guarantee facility and our other financial solutions will provide much needed support to business owners and enable them emerge stronger.”

African Guarantee Fund’s objective is to support Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), to play their role of engine drivers of growth. By closing the greatest obstacle, which is the financing gap, AGF enables SMEs to increase sustainable growth and to be a source of employment, skills and wealth creation. In turn, this serves to reduce poverty throughout the continent.

African Guarantee Fund Group CEO Mr. Jules Ngankam said “SIDIAN bank provides efficient and convenient solutions to Kenyan entrepreneurs. Our loan portfolio guarantee will enable them to provide more financial solutions to their SME clientele especially in view of the impact of the pandemic on SME businesses. Most importantly, the guarantee facility will have an impact on thousands who are directly and indirectly dependent on the income generated from the SME beneficiaries.”

Sidian Bank is supporting entrepreneurs in the country through provision of transformational financial solutions, targeting mainly the SME sector.