Wednesday, March 15, 2023

AgriFI and Team Europe Initiative ‘Investing in Young Businesses in Africa’

16 March 2023. The hybrid event ‘Effective partnerships between European implementers and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs): Bridging the financing gap in developing countries’
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https://ecconf.webex.com/ecconf/j.php?MTID=me7868c7159febf2dcb3bedfa46856040
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Meeting number (access code): 2742 283 0089

This 1-day event aims to bring together different actors involved in technical and financial cooperation for an exchange of experience with a view of identifying important next steps towards effective partnerships between development cooperation agencies, DFIs and development banks in EUs contribution to the Addis-agenda and Agenda 2030.

During the event, opportunities will be given to have practical and honest discussions on how a relevant mix of technical and financial cooperation can best contribute to development impact in partner countries, in the frame of their efforts to design and develop their Integrated national financial frameworks (INFFs). 

Extract of the programme

13:45 – 15:30 Thematic session: Case nº5: AgriFI Country and Regional windows: A framework
to foster greater collaboration with technical assistance providers.

Presenting: Guillaume Simoes and Aude Sauvaget, EDFI MC. 

The AgriFI Country and Regional Windows which provides long term investment to SMEs and financial institutions with the aim to improve smallholders livelihoods will be presented. A focus on potential collaboration opportunities with technical assistance providers will be explored.

EDFI AgriFI is one of the EU development instruments aiming to invest in sustainable agriculture projects with high impact on smallholders. EDFI AgriFI is managed by EDFI MC, on behalf of the 15 bilateral development finance institutions.

The mission of EDFI AgriFI is to support smallholders on their path to commercial and sustainable farming, contributing to improve their livelihoods while aiming to unlock, accelerate and leverage investments in the agriculture sector. To achieve this, EDFI AgriFI supports SMEs, Financial Institutions and Impact Funds having a positive impact on smallholder farmers with long term investments (4 to 10 years) in the form of debt or equity participation (ticket size between EUR 1 million and EUR 5 million).

After the successful deployment of a global facility of EUR 40 million, through various long-term investments, EDFI AgriFI reinforced its partnership in 2022 with the European Union, including with some of its Delegations, closely working with partner countries and with the European DFIs. It will allow to provide additional long term financial offering to local agriculture value chains and smallholders in some specific geographies. 

The four dedicated new financing windows (Ghana, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and ACP) offer customised approaches designed to meet the needs of specific markets, in line with the strategy of the European Commission, the EU Green Deal and national programs in the targeted countries, to support development agenda and sustainable development goals, and stimulate inclusive growth, private sector and job creation.

In addition to provide access to long-term finance to private companies, EDFI AgriFI is now developing a technical assistance offer to leverage and enhance the impact of its investments. This TA offer provides a framework for collaboration opportunities with technical assistance providers in targeted geographies. 

Typically, EDFI AgriFI technical assistance will allow to provide partners with:
  • Specialist advisory services during due diligence and/or contractual phase;
  • Capacity building (training to farmers, support to certification, improvement of environmental and social standards, digitalisation, etc.);
  • Governance standards improvements;
  • Impact measurement studies.

13:45 – 15:30 Case no7: Team Europe Initiative ‘Investing in Young Businesses in Africa’ (TEI IYBA)


National coordination between implementing agencies, DFIs and PDBs, the example of The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group.

Presenting: Rima Le Coguic, Expertise France Deputy CEO, on behalf of AFD Group.

Presentation of the AFD Group, as an example of national coordination between implementing agencies, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Public Development Banks (PDBs). The articulation between Proparco, Expertise France and AFD was presented, focusing on the challenges encountered and how to address them. (Expertise France joined the AFD Group on January 1, 2022)

The Invest in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) initiative was used as an example of such coordination between different actors. 
  • Read Team Europe Initiative Investing in Young Businesses in Africa: A quick overview # 5 p.
  • The Investing in Young Business in Africa (IYBA) initiative is a €4.6 billion fund to support young entrepreneurs, growing start-ups, and local and national entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa. 
    • Value of programmes falling within the TEI IYBA EU: nine (9) EU Member States: Total €1.9 billion + EU: €2.7 billion. TOTAL: €4.6 billion
    • On the Team Europe side, nine (9) EU Member StatesBE, DE, ES, FI, FR, IT, LU, NL, PT.
    • DG INTPA and several European development agencies are also putting together a new €20 million programme to strengthen the business ecosystem.
  • The Team Europe Initiative “Investing in Young Businesses in Africa” is made up of 3 building blocks:

    1) Increase the financial and technical support for pre-seed stage entrepreneurs and micro and small enterprises,
    2) Increase the finance for SMEs and entrepreneurs at seed and early stages, and
    3) Supporting the ecosystem, with a special emphasis on women and young people.


  • Aimed at extending financial and technical support at the early stages of those businesses’ development, it also tries to strengthen the ecosystem of organisations that support them, such as incubators and accelerators.
    • Senegal is the pilot country for this initiative: IYBA-SEED Senegal: Investing in Young Businesses in Africa - Supporting Entrepreneurship
      Ecosystem Development
       - Contributing to creating decent jobs and resilient economies by increasing access to financial resources and technical assistance of SEED beneficiaries through strengthened and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. (Start date 30 December 2022 / End date 30 November 2026)
    • In December 2022 the Team Europe Initiative’s ‘Investing in Young Businesses in Africa’ (TEI IYBA) was launched in NigeriaThe Women Entrepreneurship for Africa (WE4A),  a constituent of the TEI IYBA, facilitated the session on the conditions where early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa could thrive, especially women and young people; also creating decent jobs for all. One example of a programme in Nigeria is a new €15 million agenda to improve the digital innovation ecosystem in Nigeria. While the EU and Germany are financing it, it will be implemented by GIZ.
    • Other countries are set to follow include Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Comoros, Kenya, and South Africa
4th July 2022. Workshop Team Europe Initiative (TEI) Investing in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) Working Group on Ecosystem Development 

The event was chaired by Ms. Cécile Billaux Head of Unit E2 – Micro-economic Analysis, Investment Climate, Private Sector, Trade, Employment Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), European Commission

During the first part of the workshop, EU member state organisations (MSOs) (Expertise France, Enabel, GIZ, SlovakAid, SNV) presented the IYBA SEED components, with an emphasis on lessons learnt. The second part of the workshop focused on the regional perspective for ecosystem development where presentations from BIC Africa, UNCDF and the AfDB were made followed by an open discussion on how to connect different national ecosystems.



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