British International Investment & Ecobank Sierra Leone Partner on $25m Facility For Sierra Leone

The ground breaking risk sharing facility will increase lending to businesses in Sierra Leone where access to finance is limited. It will further support local currency lending and provide longer-term loans which aRE generally unavailable.This pioneering facility is the first investment under the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA) which was created by BII to boost investment in frontier markets.
It demonstrates BII’s ability to act as a first mover in frontier markets such as Sierra Leone, navigating risk and working with partners like Ecobank Sierra Leone to create impact.

ARIA – More Information:

The Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA) brings together development finance institutions to unlock investment opportunities in transition states in Africa.

Historically, DFIs have tried to originate investments in frontier economies with mixed results. ARIA aims to engage proactively in such markets in a way that would improve investment readiness – both a country’s readiness to benefit from DFI investment and DFIs’ abilities to invest in these economies.

The Accelerator will design and implement practical strategies to support private sector strengthening, bringing together DFIs to collaborate on issues that could benefit from a collective voice or action.

The members of ARIA are: British International Investment, Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), US International Development Finance Corporation, Proparco, FinDev Canada, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), in its role as Financial Institution for International Development Cooperation (Observer), JICA (Observer), Swedfund, International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank (Observer) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Observer).