These loans are part of a financing agreement for €25 million (XOF 16.4 billion) concluded in September 2023 between COFINA Group (Compagnie Financière Africaine) and the EIB through EIB Global, the Bank’s development branch, which supports private sector firms in agricultural value chains. Of the €25 million in financing guaranteed by the European Union, COFINA Senegal will receive a total of €9.75 million (XOF 6.4 billion).
The partnership will sustain around 2 300 jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-cap companies in Senegal.
This agreement includes ambitious objectives for climate action, environmental sustainability and financial inclusion – in particular of women, as entrepreneurs, managers, employees and consumers of products and services, increasing their economic participation in line with the 2X Challenge initiative. It will allow COFINA Group, as a meso-finance institution, to increase the support it provides to help develop agricultural value chains, in particular in cereals and horticulture, two priority areas in the partnership between the European Union and Senegal.
In supporting the agricultural sector, this financing will serve to reduce dependence on imports, increasing Senegal’s food sovereignty and general economic stability while encouraging environmentally friendly agricultural practices, the adoption of modern technology and job creation in rural areas.
Meet some of the first firms to benefit from this financing:
- Wakeur Cheikh Abdou Karim Agro is a company created in June 2019 by Ahmadou Dème, specialising in the production and sale of produce, especially onions. Based in Pout (Thiès), the company has cultivated more than 85 acres of land this season, and has 150 tonnes of onions in inventory. It has modern irrigation equipment, storage facilities for 1 000 tonnes of inventory and its own means of logistics and distribution. It received financing of XOF 30 billion from COFINA to build a new storage facility in order to increase capacity and improve profitability.
- Khady Sow is an agricultural entrepreneur. Since 2016, she has been running a farm in Diogo (Thiès) and a shop selling farm products in Yoff (Dakar). With her innovative strategy of selling on social media, she targets households and small resellers, distributing up to 300 bags of vegetables a day. Thanks to financing of XOF 8 billion from COFINA, she was able to expand her shop and create jobs, especially for women in Diogo.
- Rokhaya Kane is a poultry expert with more than 20 years of experience, who has also been farming rice on five acres of land in Saint-Louis since 2021. She started working out of her home with just 15 chickens. Today, she manages production of 5 000 birds per month, across five poultry houses. A loan of XOF 3.5 billion from COFINA has allowed her to expand her business to meet the growing demand, creating new jobs locally and stimulating the Saint-Louis economy.
- The Société Coopérative Mutualiste Multifonctionnelle de Diokhar Ndoffène is a cooperative managed by Yafane Faye. It has 74 members that produce millet, maize and peanuts on around 250 acres of land. Founded in March 2022, it is located in Diokhar Ndoffène, Mbour. Thanks to financing of XOF 3.91 billion from COFINA, the cooperative could increase its farming production, making it more competitive on the local market.
- Serigne Mourtalla Ndiaye, a farmer based in Bayakh (Thiès), got his start in agriculture in 2004 as a farm worker before opening his own five-acre vegetable farm, including five greenhouses and a nursery with 109 000 plants. Thanks to financing of XOF 5 billion from COFINA, he was able to expand his chilli pepper production and create local jobs, fostering the economic inclusion of women in the Bayakh community.