Oikocredit Abidjan has approved a first medium-term refinancing line of € 2.3 million to Fin ‘Elle (Finance Pour Elle), the youngest member of the Cofina Group, dedicated to female entrepreneurship. Funding for female entrepreneurship is a key factor in accelerating financial inclusion in Africa. This line of financing in this month dedicated to gender, is the first line of this development institution, which offers solutions of capital, debt and technical assistance, through these offices in West Africa and Africa. Is.
Fin’Elle has succeeded in two (02) years of exercise, to position itself in the ranking of the Top 10 microfinance institutions in Cote Ivoire, with an active and healthy portfolio of more than Ten Billion FCFA (10 Billion FCFA). “This dedicated“ Gender Finance -Finance au Féminin ”line was made possible thanks to the good credit history with the other subsidiaries of the COFINA Group headed by Mr. Jean Luc KONAN. We also want to salute the commitment of the General Management, Ms. Kady Traoré and her teams. This line will be followed by a tailor-made technical assistance grant “.
The Microfinance market in Cote d’Ivoire is around 350 billion FCFA in assets, according to figures from the Professional Association of Decentralized Financial Systems, for an inclusion rate of less than 10%. The quantitative measures of the Central Bank made it possible to register bank loans for microfinance for refinancing. This sector will still need support, especially following the suspension of the regulator’s deadline extension measures. “We had the honor to contribute to the development of the national strategy for Financial Inclusion of Cote Ivoire, whose government pioneered the creation of a technical agency dedicated to financial inclusion. As a development actor, we make our experience in other geographies available, to be a catalyst, in order to allow other financial players to be more aware of this asset class. We believe that the vases are communicating, if retail banking is going to develop, it is desirable that the first stage, that is to say microcredit, be developed, so that beneficiaries move upmarket towards the banking sector ”, says Oloufemi Cedrick Montetcho, Head of Financial Institutions at Oikocredit.