On the sidelines of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Côte d'Ivoire, the French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, and the Ivorian Minister for the Promotion of SMEs, Félix Anoblé, participated on 21 December, at Sofitel Hotel Ivoire, at a meeting between the French Development Agency (AFD) group, the private sector and Ivorian banks. It aimed to present the advantages of Choose Africa, an initiative launched in 2019 by President Macron, endowed with more than 2.5 billion euros, dedicated to financing and supporting start-ups, VSEs and SMEs in Africa by 2022. The French minister said that the major problem of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, in their evolution, is access to finance. It is to address this problem that this program was designed.

To date, says Rémy Rioux, the CEO of the AFD group, 1 billion in financing, more than a third of which in West Africa and 165 million euros in Côte d'Ivoire, or 16% of the total amount of the sub-region. These amounts include three new SME financing agreements in Côte d'Ivoire. One concerns a project in support of Société Générale Côte d'Ivoire's (SGCI) SME strategy. This bank is granted a guarantee of 15 million euros dedicated to a pilot project that will allow the development of a guarantee offer on short-term trade finance operations. The other two signatures relate to a green financing line developed by AFD as part of the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance (SUNREF). He has signed a new SUNREF with SGCI for an amount of €10 million and with NSIA for €7.5 million.

On this occasion, Bruno Le Maire said he was in favour of setting up a Choose Africa programme for Côte d'Ivoire and a C2D dedicated to SMEs, in order to support efforts to create competitive SMEs that create jobs and wealth. This would allow, according to the Ivorian Minister for the Promotion of SMEs, Félix Anoblé, who made the request, to effectively support Côte d'Ivoire in the implementation of important programs to strengthen the support system for SMEs. In addition, start-ups that have benefited from the Group's support and guidance as part of the Social and Inclusive Business Camp 2019 as well as companies that have benefited from funding from Proparco's partner funds were presented on the occasion.