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Newsletter n°34 | July 2021
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IN THIS NEWSLETTER
 
EDITO • Koen Doens,  Director-General INTPA, European Commission | FOCUS • IPAE 2 makes four new investments | WHAT'S NEW AT I&P | PORTRAIT • Angéline Traoré/Yougbarè, Maison Fenel, Burkina Faso | PORTFOLIO NEWS  | ANALYSIS | PRESS REVIEW

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  EDITO  ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Koen Doens
Director-General for International Partnerships, European Commission


A year after the launch of the program I&P Acceleration in the Sahel, financed by the European Union, Koen Doens reviews the EU's strategy for the African private sector and the program's progress.
"About two months ago, the summit on the financing of African economies was held in Paris. In a context of health crisis and climate emergency, the opportunity came, stronger than ever, to recall what makes the strength of the African continent: its vast fabric of small and medium-sized enterprises, driven by entrepreneurial and innovative youth.

The European Commission fully subscribes to this observation and pays full attention to the African private sector, and more particularly to the continent’s micro, small & medium-sized enterprises. (...)

In this context, the European Union has partnered with I&P to finance the program I&P Acceleration in the Sahel, deployed over four years in 13 countries of the Sahel sub-region. One year after its official launch, the program continues to pursue its mission: to provide access to the finance and skills necessary for small businesses to develop, and thus promote the creation of decent jobs in the Sahel."

Read full edito

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  FOCUS  ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
The I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 fund welcomes
four new African SMEs in the portfolio
Since April 2021, the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 (IPAE2) impact fund pursues an active pace of investment, welcoming four new companies in its portfolio: XpressGas and Zeepay in Ghana, Ed Partners Africa in Kenya and Pigier in Cameroon.

Let's have a look on these various investments and on the fund IPAE 2, which is continuing its mission despite a context marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ WHAT'S NEW AT I&P ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I&P, Sinergi Burkina and the European Union organized a round table on alternative financing, bringing together five actors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and about sixty participants. 
Read more
Vivian Tchatchueng, Investment Manager based in Cameroon, was interviewed by Naja TV on the financing solutions available to Cameroonian SMEs.

Read more

Mialy Ranaivoson, Investment Director for I&P's Madagascar, becomes President of AMIC, Association Malagasy des Investisseurs en Capital.

Read more



▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ PORTRAIT ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Angéline Traoré/Yougbarè
Founder and Director of Maison Fenel, Burkina Faso

Last June, I&P met Angéline Yougbaré Traoré, who founded Maison Fenel in 2019, a company specializing in the production and marketing of fashion accessories made from locally woven fabrics (Faso Dan Fani).

Maison Fenel is the first company managed by a woman in Burkina Faso benefitting from the program I&P Acceleration in the Sahel. The first results were immediate with the purchase of equipment to increase production capacity, the restructuring of the company, the strengthening of the management system and the recruitment of an accountant.
Watch the interview


▬▬▬▬▬  NEWS OF THE PORTFOLIO  ▬▬▬▬▬

Miarakap invests in Supermarche.mg, a startup founded in 2018 offering a home shopping delivery solution for households in urban and peri-urban areas in Antananarivo.

Read more

As part of its program I&P Acceleration in the Sahel, I&P is launching its first training program for entrepreneurship support structures, with a cohort of 10 structures in 9 countries of the sub-region.
Read more
A few months after the call for applications, the second edition of the program Afrique Creative is launched. 17 entrepreneurs have been selected for the pre-incubation phase.

Read more
Zoom on a new investment

The program I&P Acceleration Technologies, with the support of Miarakap, has completed a new financing: the Malagasy start-up Sayna, the first African Edtech & crowdsourcing platform dedicated to learning computer development and access to the job market. Read more

Read the interview in La Tribune Afrique with Matina Razafimahefa, founder of Sayna



▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  ANALYSIS  ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Focus on the Summit on Financing African Economies
About thirty African, European, G7 and G20 leaders and international institutions were mobilized in Paris on May 18 for the Summit on the financing of African economies.

 The Final Declaration of the summit devotes a real place to African entrepreneurship and SME financing. This is also the case for the tribune, "A call from European and African leaders for a "new deal" for Africa", published on Le Monde in early June.
"The Summit focuses on Africa's main asset: its entrepreneurial revolution. It aims to correct the following paradox: the continent's private sector, its fabric of SMEs and VSEs, is the main lever for giving a future to women and the continent's youth, but it is trapped in an informal economy and underfunding.
 Will this Summit bring oxygen to African businesses? Beyond the declarations of intent, we must finally scale up to massively finance SMEs in Africa, to create a powerful economic fabric of private companies and thus meet the challenge of a better development of the continent, say Jean-Marc Gravellini and Florian Léon in the article "Supporting private firms in Africa : Why and how ?" on the blog Entreprenante Afrique.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ PRESS REVIEW ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Both local and pan-African press mentioned the latest financing activities of the I&P family, whether on our acceleration programs or our private equity funds:

► 
In Kenya, Disrupt Africa and The Star review the fundraising carried out by EdPartners Africa, with the investment of I&P (IPAE 2), Acumen and Zephyr.


 As for Agence Ecofin, it looks back on I&P's investment in XpressGas. How we made it in Africa published a detailed article on Kofi Nketsia-Tabiri's entrepreneurial journey .

 
Tech specialized media mention the fundraising of the Ghanaian company Zeepay: Tech in Africa, AfricaNews, Technext, and The Capital Quest.

 Still about tech, the seed funding in Sayna was widely covered by the tech and/or pan-African press, with an interview of its promoter Matina Razafimahefa in La Tribune Afrique, and articles in Impact Alpha, Ecofin, or Disrupt Africa.
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