News
“3 questions to” Agnès Huang, investment officer for the Accion venture lab (AVL) project
In 2019, PROPARCO invested in the seed fund Accion Venture Lab (AVL), which is considered as one of the top fintech specialists in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This operation will support the creat...
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“3 questions to” Thomas Bonnisseau, ESG expert for the Altiplano 200 project in Argentina
In 2019, PROPARCO allocated a USD 50m loan to the French company NEOEN for the implementation of the Altiplano 200 photovoltaic project, located at an altitude of 4,000 meters in Argentina. For this o...
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Equity investment to bring to scale: An interview with two financed SMEs
As we have repeated on a number of occasions in this issue – and the different articles have borne this out – access to funding is one of the key challenges and obstacles to the development of SMEs in...
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Equity investment to bring SMEs to scale: An interview with two African fund managers
SMEs in Africa remain heavily reliant on internal resources and traditional bank debt. A lack of appropriate forms of finance – especially of the equity type – limits market entry, long-term investmen...
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“As you are encouraging the farmers to grow tea, you must be able to give them extension services”
At the head of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), Kenya's leading tea producer and exporter, Lerionka Tiampati discusses, for the Private Sector & Development review, the successes and challenge...
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“Investment in agriculture as a key poverty reduction lever”
The World Bank’s World development report was first published in 2008. It was co-written by Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet among others and it highlighted agriculture as “an essential developm...
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“I’m hopeful about emerging companies entering the world of venture capitalbacked start-ups”
Twiga Foods is a B2B marketplace platform that sources produce – initially only bananas – from farmers at above-market prices and delivers them to retailers at below-market prices, accomplished throug...
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From the dream of a cashless Africa to a constantly expanding start-up: the Zoona story
Founded in 2009, the Zambian start-up Zoona is now in full expansion. Like all venture capital-backed start-ups, Zoona has been through its fair share of ups and downs. Its founder Mike Quinn gives us...
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In Rwanda, “hospitals can now use RapidSMS data to get ready for new arrivals!”
The RapidSMS telemedecine platform makes it possible for Community Health Workers (CHWs) to share data: between 2009 and 2015, it helped to save the lives of around 590,000 new-born babies and it has...
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