EDFI at the EU-Africa Business Forum

As a partner of the 7th edition of the EU-Africa Business Forum (EABF), EDFI hosted and contributed to a series of high-level discussions, events and ceremonies dedicated to scale up private sector mobilisation in Africa.
The EABF is a high level event organised jointly by the European and the African Unions, convening business and political leaders. The event preceeds the African Union-European Union Summit and represents a strategic opportunity for representatives of the EU and African private sectors to identify and/or consolidate joint opportunities in the spirit of the Comprehensive Strategy with Africa and the Africa-Europe Alliance for sustainable investment and jobs. The 2022 edition focused on “building stronger value chains for sustainable growth and decent jobs” and was articulated around three main priorities:

• Creating an enabling framework for a substantial African recovery,
• Building stronger value chains both within Africa and between the EU and Africa,
• Making it work for the people and the planet.

From 15 to 18 February, EDFI members contributed to the following high-level exchanges and workshops

• Team Europe Initiative Investing in Young Business in Africa incl. Huib-Jan De Ruijter (CIO at FMO)
• Fostering investments in a human-centered and sustainable data economy in Africa incl. Jaakko Kangasniemi (CEO of Finnfund)
• Alliance for entrepreneurship in Africa incl. Soren Peter Andreasen (CEO of EDFI)
• EFSD+ and how to mobilise the private sector incl. Laure Blanchard-Brunac (Director of Policy & Partnerships at EDFI)
• Launch of the new AgriFI & ElectriFI country and regional windows / EDFI MC, FMO, INTPA, OACPS
• EU-Africa summit pre-launch in Paris incl. Bruno Wenn (Chairman of EDFI)
• Integrating EU and Africa Value Chains incl. Rolland Siller (CEO of DEG)
• Youth and Entrepreneurship incl. Gregory Clemente (CEO of Proparco)
• Financing Africa’s sustainable growth incl. Bruno Wenn (Chairman of EDFI)

In particular, EDFI announced and confirmed important milestones for European DFIs:

– A joint statement on the coordination of European Development Finance Institutions on the African continent 

– The results of the coalition for a sustainable and inclusive recovery of the private sector, an international group of 20 DFIs whose commitments of over USD 5.55 billion of financing to MSMEs in Africa between mid-2020 and end of 2021, beating their set target of USD 4 billion over the period.

– The signing of an additional EUR 103m commitment from the EU in ElectriFI and AgriFI facilities managed by EDFI MC to further support early-stage private sector development in 4 specific countries and the African Caribbean and Pacific region.

READ THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESS RELEASE