The private sector and Small Scale investments in Africa will get a boost that will enable their growth through the recent ‘AfricaConnect’ €400 million initiative of the German Development Ministry.
The new fund has three pillars: ‘AfricaConnect’, ‘AfricaGrow’, and the ‘Business Network Africa’. The German Development Minister, Gerd Müller in 2019 announced a new €1 billion Development Investment Fund for boosting private investments in Africa. The fund is aimed at to facilitating and supporting the entry of German businesses into African markets or to help Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa grow.
The fund’s portfolio includes investments and financing in the following regions: Asia, Latin America, Africa (with a focus on sub-Saharan countries) and European countries outside the EU, as well as the financing of supra-regional projects.
The German Investment Corporation (DEG), a subsidiary of the KFW banking group, is one of Germany’s development actors, and one of the largest DFIs in Europe.
The DEG’s priority investment areas are the financial sector, the manufacturing industry, infrastructure and agribusiness. This initiative will help in mitigating economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic which will also have an impact on the economy of developing and emerging markets in the continent.
