African Guarantee Fund (AGF),a market-friendly guarantee scheme that aims at easing access to finance for African small SMEs has today partnered with Frankfurt-based bettervest, a crowdfunding platform, to increase financing of sustainable SME projects in Africa. 

The AGF, designed and funded by the AfDB in partnership with the governments of Denmark and Spain, seeks to provide financial guarantees to financial institutions to stimulate financing to SMEs and unlock their potential to deliver inclusive growth in the region.

Speaking on the new partnership, AGF Group CEO Jules Ngankam said, “Partnering with a crowdfunding platform and Fintech is in line with our strategy for the coming years and represents a unique development opportunity for innovative financing. Through our risk-sharing mechanism, the partnership with bettervest will have a positive impact on Africa’s green economic transition.”

“By cooperating with the African Guarantee Fund, we have come much closer to our goal of also letting our investors benefit from the valuable instrument of a default guarantee and thus perhaps directing more investments to the African continent. This partnership is a milestone for our company”, says Marilyn Heib, CEO of bettervest GmbH.

The aim of this partnership is to further increase the attractiveness of impact investments, which therefore makes a valuable contribution to the planet and its people. As with any type of investment, impact investing is not free of risks. If a project fails, the worst-case scenario is the loss of the investment amount. The partial guarantee provided by African Guarantee Fund will help to mitigate the risk of default. 

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