The recently formed ACEP Group has acquired controlling stakes in three microfinance institutions (MFIs), ACEP Burkina Faso, ACEP Madagascar and ACEP Niger; and ACEP Cameroun “is aiming to join” the group as well. The creators of ACEP Group are the Agence de Crédit pour l’Entreprise Privée (ACEP) International, a private company whose ownership includes its co-founder Thierry Perreau; Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), a France-based investor in small and medium-sized enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa; and the government-owned Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, which is also known by its Dutch acronym BIO.
The goals of the group include to maintain the MFIs’ commitments to their social missions, improve their governance, boost their access to refinancing and strengthen their ability to work together to roll out digital financial services. The institutions also will be able to access management consulting services from ACEP Conseil, another subsidiary of the ACEP Group. In the future, the group plans to expand into additional countries.
The formation of the group “reflects the growing awareness of a world that is changing, faced with a profusion of new disruptive economic models” and is aimed at “blending together the warmth of local relationships and the best technological innovations,” said Mr Perreau, who serves as the Managing Director of ACEP Group.
ACEP Group has 1,300 employees serving 140,000 entrepreneurs with a loan portfolio of EUR 110 million (USD 122 million) as of December 2019.
Established in 2001, BIO aims to support a “strong private sector in developing countries, to enable them to gain access to growth and sustainable development within the framework of the [UN’s] Sustainable Development Goals.” As of December 2018, it has total assets of EUR 938 million (USD 1.05 billion).
Founded in 2002, I&P manages four funds, the largest of which has a volume of EUR 54 million (USD 60 million). Through these funds, I&P invests amounts ranging from EUR 30,000 (USD 33,000) to EUR 3 million (USD 3.3 million) in small and medium-sized enterprises. It has 150 investees in 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sources and Additional Resources
I&P press release
http://www.ietp.com/en/content/creation-acep-group
ACEP Group homepage
https://groupacep.com
BIO homepage
http://bio-invest.be
I&P homepage
http://www.ietp.com
More news on ACEP
https://www.microcapital.org/?s=ACEP
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