The African Development Bank has approved an investment of US$10mn into the West Africa Emerging Market Fund (WAEMF). The fund is targeting private small to medium-sized enterprises in the region, supporting private companies that demonstrate solid growth potential.
AfDB’s contribution makes it the lead investors in the fund alongside the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
It is envisaged that the proposed investment in the fund will also have wider implications, one being the strengthening of trade flows within the West African region. According the AfDB, the aims of the fund fit well with the bank’s broader strategies of tackling the negative effects of the financial crisis on regional trade, as well as targeting private sector and infrastructure development.
The WAEMF fund is sponsored by three institutional investors; Colina and NSIA, both of which are regional insurance companies and CNPS, the Ivorian National Pension Fund, as well as a local investment partner, Phoenix Capital Management (PCM).
The AfDB hopes that its involvement in the fund will help attract more institutional investors to participate and help the sponsors reach their target capitalisation of US$50mn.
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