African Union Development Agency-NEPAD and Ecobank announce pillars of AUDA-NEPAD 100,000 MSMEs program for Africa’s MSMEs

AUDA-NEPAD (the African Union Development Agency) (https://www.NEPAD.org/) and Ecobank Group (http://www.Ecobank.com/) are committing resources to Africa’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The second virtual workshop facilitated by McKinsey on June 11, 2020 provided an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of sustaining market access and strengthening capabilities for MSMEs. During this session, high level representatives from the African Union Commission, regional development banks, development financial institutions, international organisations and commercial banks from the continent, agreed to put in place the AUDA-NEPAD “100,000 MSMEs by 2021” programme.

MSMEs require our collective resources to secure and create new jobs on the African continent. As such, the AUDA-NEPAD MSME programme will have five pillars: (1) AUDA MSME Academy, (2) MSME Financing Support Programme, (3) MSME Marketplace, (4) MSME Micro-health insurance Scheme and (5) MSME digital platform. These five pillars are designed to ensure that MSMEs across the continent are supported to become more resilient, improve their market access and take advantage of technology to tap into the African market of 1.3 billion consumers and leverage the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.

AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki commended the contribution of all the Financial Institutions, Development Partners and other Stakeholders who participated in designing the “100,000 MSMEs by 2021” programme. He emphasized the need for all actors to work together and support the private sector in Africa, in order to protect employment and to create the 440 million jobs the continent will need by 2030.

Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobank Group CEO reiterated Ecobank’s commitment to the initiative and specifically confirmed its support in building the digital platform, developing content for the MSME Academy and participating in lending to African MSMEs.

Governments have committed to support MSMEs at the national level. The AUDA-NEPAD programme will pool African resources, capabilities, financing, market access and technology, to help achieve a continental response to MSMEs.

About the platform:
The AUDA-NEPAD (https://www.NEPAD.org/) and Ecobank Group will work with other African likeminded institutions and businesses to utilize the platform for monitoring and benchmarking, thus allowing members and MSMEs to share their experiences, best practices, national policies, and challenges, and avail resources to support African businesses and economies to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. This will help prioritise the Agency’s actions in the short, mid and long term towards the Member States and the partners, to (i) mitigate COVID-19 economic impact, and (ii) leverage on lessons learned from the 100,000 SMEs project and other national, regional and continental initiatives to increase African economies’ level of resilience amid the pandemic.

About the AUDA-NEPAD COVID-19 Response Plan of Action:
The AUDA-NEPAD COVID-19 Response Plan of Action is a proactive, efficient and direct response in enhancing continental coverage, and improving access to sustainable and resilient health services while ensuring the protection of Africa’s economic foundations. The set of thematic areas that have been addressed by the plan create an ecosystem for the private sector to contribute to its implementation and to benefit from its added value, by opening new markets based on a win-win approach. The AUDA-NEPAD will be a recipient of financial investments and donations for its COVID-19 Response Plan of Action. The Agency plays the role of broker between various service providers and governments, as well as coordinate the value chain from operations to institutional mechanisms.