The European Investment Bank has invested pound 108 million in Nigeria and other African countries in the last 10 years to support African entrepreneurs.
The investment was done through the bank’s Boost Africa Investment Programme: Investment in Africa’s Entrepreneurs. Unlocking Growth. Creating Impact.
The European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, disclosed this yesterday at an event to celebrate the achievements of Boost Africa.
Mignot, who spoke under the theme: Investing in Africa’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs from Investment to Impact, noted that the Boost Africa initiative has invested pound 108 million to support African entrepreneurs.
Besides, he said the programme has mobilised close to pound 400 million in additional investment and contributed to the creation of about 15,000 jobs across the continent.
Mignot said Boost Africa’s model could help businesses develop solutions to challenges affecting small enterprises and supply chains.
He listed ICT and digitalisation, agribusiness, financial services and financial inclusion, healthcare, education and renewable energy among the sectors targeted by the programme. Mignot described the initiative as both an investment in African entrepreneurs and in the wider ecosystem required to enable them to build competitive and sustainable businesses.
Ambassador of EU to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot said the initiative is meant to create jobs and opportunities, especially for young people, and to help build or reinforce local value chains.
The programme which has been on for the last 10 years, according to Mignot shows some particularities of the EU offer to Nigeria and Africa.
He added that the European Union believes that Africa’s young entrepreneurs are among the continent’s greatest assets. Their ideas have the potential to transform economies, strengthen communities, and create sustainable prosperity.’
He explained that the Boost Africa initiative is an excellent example of this approach, and it demonstrates how collaboration between the European Union, the EIB, the African Development Bank, venture capital partners, and African entrepreneurs can generate real and measurable impact.
He added: ‘I think the figures speak for themselves: more than 108 million euros of funding, with a leverage effect bringing the figure to 400 million euros, and creating 15,000 jobs in the beneficiary countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular Nigeria.
‘Nigeria is one of Africa’s most dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we believe that supporting innovation and enterprise is essential for sustainable economic growth and job creation. So this is really the core of our partnership in Nigeria.’
He, however, noted that one of the biggest constraints confronting these entrepreneurs remained access to capital, particularly at the earliest and riskiest stages of building a company.
‘Boost Africa was created to address that gap,’ Mignot said.
He explained that Boost Africa was not designed to operate primarily like a conventional commercial bank providing direct loans to thousands of small businesses.
He said a key part of its model was investing through venture-capital funds and other financial intermediaries that identify and finance promising African startups and high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mignot said the EIB had, through Boost Africa, invested in venture capital funds including TLcom Tide Africa, Partech Africa, AfricInvest Venture Capital Growth Fund, Janngo Capital Startup Fund, Atlantica Venture Capital Fund and Seedstars Africa Ventures I.
He listed ICT and digitalisation, agribusiness, financial services and financial inclusion, healthcare, education and renewable energy among the sectors targeted by the programme.
Mignot also said there were several other successful stories within the Boost Africa ecosystem, adding that the experiences of entrepreneurs supported through the initiative demonstrated the impact of providing businesses with both capital and expertise.
He further stressed the importance of young people to the initiative, saying entrepreneurship could become a major source of employment for Africa’s growing youth population.
According to Mignot, Nigeria was particularly important to the success of initiatives such as Boost Africa because of its large population, youthful demographic, entrepreneurial energy and vibrant startup ecosystem.
Mignot said the EIB had found that several of the early startups financed through the programme were headquartered in Nigeria, reflecting the country’s position as one of Africa’s leading startup hubs.
He stressed, however, that the broader objective should not simply be to produce more Nigerian startups, but to build Nigerian and African companies capable of scaling across the continent and beyond.
‘When an entrepreneur in Lagos develops a solution that can subsequently operate in Ghana, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire or South Africa, we are beginning to see the creation of genuinely pan-African business,’ he said.
Also speaking at the event, Mr. Moussa Nakoulima, European Investment Bank Country Relationship Manager for Nigeria, described Boost Africa as a ‘smart combination of capital and capacity’, stressing that its impact extended beyond financing individual entrepreneurs.
Nakoulima said Africa had a young and talented population and a growing community of businessmen and women developing solutions across financial services, healthcare, digital technology, renewable energy and other sectors.