Increasing digital inclusion in Africa

Founded in 2009, Netis is a major pan-African telecom infrastructure service provider, operating in more than 15 countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. The Group offers a comprehensive range of products and services, from telecom tower maintenance to fiber optics deployment, and including the installation of power supply and energy saving solutions.

The operation involves the acquisition of a majority stake in Netis by a consortium of investors including Proparco, Amethis, AfricInvest and IFC. The financing will enable Netis to develop in the countries where it currently operates and penetrate new markets.  

The consortium of investors and the co-founders will also focus on the company’s impact agenda based on three pillars: empowering women in the company, environmental responsibility, and the development of human resources.

The expected impacts of this project are as follows: 

 - Support for 2,500 jobs in the Group over the next 5 years, and 6,000 indirect jobs in the value chain

 - Contribution to gender equality, reflected in its eligibility under the 2X Challenge: 30% of women in the management team (Criterion 2) and an objective of 35% of women employees by 2025, combined with the introduction of policies and measures that benefit women (Criterion 3). 

Through these effects on development, the project should contribute to SDG 5 (“Gender equality”) and SDG 8 (“Decent work and economic growth”).