MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Lends $5.7m to Fin’Elle of Groupe Cofina to Support Women-led MSMEs in Agriculture Sector of Côte d'Ivoire

La Finance pour Elle (Fin’Elle), a unit of the Côte d’Ivoire-based Groupe Cofina, recently borrowed EUR 5 million (USD 5.7 million) from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership. Fin’Elle Board President Marema Bao commented that the partnership will increase “financial support to women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector… to participate in the empowerment of women in Côte d’Ivoire.” In particular, the target population is micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises active in manioc – also known as cassava – value chains.

Founded in 2018, Fin’Elle is a microfinance institution providing 10,000 customers services such as deposits, loans, insurance and training. Although financial data on the institution are not available, it is a subsidiary of Groupe Cofina, which was founded in 2014 and focuses on “mesofinance” loans, those that are larger than microfinance loans but smaller than traditional bank loans. Groupe Cofina is active in France and eight African countries with 90 branches employing 1,300 people. In addition to microbanks, the members of Groupe Cofina include a business incubator called Startup House and Cash Deal, which offers loans based on collateral such as gold, real estate and vehicles.

Established in 1970, FMO is 51-percent held by the Dutch government and 49-percent by private investors. The institution works toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by funding capacity development and placing debt and equity investments in sectors such as agribusiness, financial institutions and energy. For the first half of 2021, FMO reported a net profit of EUR 198 million (USD 224 million) on a portfolio valued at EUR 12 billion (USD 14 billion).

By Adhya Singh, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

FMO press release
https://www.fmo.nl/news-detail/e9ca2258-019d-4ba6-98e1-373de3226882/fmo-grants-eur-5-million-loan-to-fin-elle-to-strengthen-support-to-msmes-and-women-active-in-the-ivory-coast-cassava-value-chain

Fin’Elle homepage
http://www.fin-elle.com/

Groupe Cofina homepage
https://www.groupecofina.com/

Cash Deal homepage
https://www.cashdeal-ci.com/

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