ECOWAS Bank Seals €40m Deal to Support SMEs

By Dike Onwuamaeze

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has signed a €40 million framework agreement with the ODDO BHF Aktiengesellschaft, a Franco-German financial services group with a longstanding track record and expertise in trade financing.

The fund would be used to strengthen the prospects for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and industries to enable them to contribute to the economic growth in the continent, generate employment by financing projects in areas such as renewable energy, agribusiness and pharmaceutical production.

The agreement was signed by the President of the EBID, Dr. George Donkor and the Head of International and Corporate Banking at ODDO BHF, Mr. Florian Witt, for their respective institutions yesterday, via a video conference.

Donkor said, “the credit facility illustrates the commitment of the two institutions to the region’s transformation agenda through sustainable support to the vital sector of agribusiness.”

In his comment, Witt said: “ODDO BHF AG, with its international banking division and its strong focus on Africa, has been supporting the West African region for many years and is very much looking forward to working with the EBID.”

The framework agreement consists of an uncommitted credit line of €40 million provided by the ODDO BHF AG to the EBID under which individual loan agreements could be concluded.

The credit line was designed for project-related transactions throughout the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region, which included supplies from Europe officially supported by export credit agencies (ECAs) like the Atradius of the Netherlands, the Bpifrance Assurance Export of France and the Euler Hermes of Germany.

They described the cooperation between EBID and ODDO BHF AG as an important contribution to promoting the development of various industrial sectors in the ECOWAS region.