To up its investments in infrastructure projects in Africa, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has just received a $162 million loan facility from Proparco, which finances the private sector in emerging countries, and the German development finance institution, DEG. This syndicated loan, repayable over 10 years, will support AFC's climate...

Proparco, France’s development finance institution and Ascent Rift Valley Fund II, a leading East African private equity fund announced the acquisition of a majority equity stake in Diani Beach Hospital Limited (“DBH”), the leading healthcare provider on Kenya’s South Coast. On Proparco’s side, the investment is made under the FISEA+...

As part of its 2022-2025 roadmap, Digital Africa will support 200 African startups at different stages of their growth with a wide range of offers at their disposal. Thanks to a joint and sustainable mobilization with Proparco, new investment and support mechanisms are implemented to support tech startups “Made in...

Proparco, through AFD Group’s FISEA+ initiative, has just closed a $12m equity round with Maris Limited, an impact investor with expertise in frontier markets in East and Southern Africa. The climate-aligned investment will fund start-ups and SMEs in renewable energy, agriculture and business services, with net negative GHG emissions for...

Françoise Lombard has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Proparco. Previously Finance Director and member of the Executive Committee at Agence Française de Développement, Françoise Lombard took up her new position in March 2022. She succeeds Gregory Clemente....

Four years after the Ouagadougou speech in which French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed France's commitment to supporting the entrepreneurship revolution in Africa, AFD Group has exceeded the initial objective of the Choose Africa initiative, with 3 billion euros committed as of December 2021. Nearly 250 local partners are contributing to...

Launched in 2018 with a target of €2.5 billion to be deployed before the end of 2022, the French Choose Africa initiative is the concrete expression of France's increased commitment to African start-ups, VSEs and SMEs. Of the 3 billion euros committed by AFD Group as of December 31, 2021,...

Digital Africa publishes its white paper entitled ‘Supporting Made-in-Africa digital innovations’. Building on recent successes such as its Bridge programme, Digital Africa is looking to move away from its initial non-profit model with a refreshed governance structure, a new business model and the ambition to get closer to the private...

A €2.3 million grant to Aga Khan hospitals in East Africa will improve access to healthcare services by increasing the supply of oxygen and providing free quality care to patients in need.The grant will benefit the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi and the Aga Khan Hospitals in Mombasa, Kisumu...

Nelson Mandela’s graduating class. This could not have been a coincidence for this Franco-Lebanese who set her sights on Africa very early on. Rima Le Coguic worked for the AFD, where she put her expertise in development issues to good use, before joining Expertise France as Deputy Director last September....