Rinchi
TechInAfrica – The German government has launched a €1 billion Africa fund in order to support African startups and small businesses, as well as German and European companies. The announcement made by German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff in his tweet a few days ago.
The Africa fund is part of the G20 Compact with Africa initiative which was launched in 2017 to promote investment in Africa. The fund will cover at least 12 African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Tunisia, and Togo.
The initiative kicks off in partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, and African heads of state. It fulfills German Chancellor, Angela Merkel’s pledge in October last year at the G20 Compact with Africa Summit.
According to last year’s G20 meeting in Berlin, Merkel highlighted that Africa had huge potential for growth and noted that the country’s future plan would focus more on Africa as it had good economic prospects.
Despite the investment announcement, it’s still not clear which startup verticals the fund is targeting. However, for sure, those which have the potential for scaling, competition, development, and business growth.
The German government has not also revealed the size of individual investment, yet explained that it will be in a form of loan and equity financing to European and German SMEs which seek to invest in Africa, equity financing for African SMEs, and the establishment of a network to potential investors.
Source: ventureburn.com, weetracker.com, businesslive.co.za
