The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting African SMEs. It announced on Monday 12 July that it had invested USD 25 billion in the pan-African fund Vantage Mezzanine IV.

The leading private sector-focused development institution in emerging countries has just made an investment that focuses on supporting companies based in Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt and other African countries engaged in creative sectors. job creators. This is particularly true in the fields of health, tourism, manufacturing, information and communication technologies (ICT) and telecommunications. "This investment is a boost to this important alternative source of growth capital for mid-sized African companies," said Warren van der Merwe, Managing Partner of Vantage. For his part, Kevin Njiraini, IFC's Regional Director for Africa, said: "Vantage Mezzanine IV will play an important role in providing underserved mid-sized companies with an alternative form of growth capital in Africa's nascent private credit and mezzanine finance space." According to data from EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets, Africa accounts for only about 4% of total private credit funds raised for emerging markets.