WASHINGTON, D.C./N’DJAMENA, February 19, 2004 —
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, announced that FINADEV-Tchad became the first accredited microfinance institution in Chad today under the Corporation’s Chad SME Linkage Initiative.
IFC’s Chad SME Linkage Initiative stems from the Corporation’s 2001 investment of $200 million in the $3.7 billion Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. The initiative aims to ensure that the economic benefits of the pipeline are shared as widely as possible among the Chadian population and local businesses.
FINADEV, in which IFC has a 25 percent equity stake, has disbursed around 4,000 loans worth some $1.9 million to over 3,300 clients from the informal economy since opening in Chad in 2001. IFC is providing FINADEV with technical assistance support,with funding from the IFC Capacity Building Facility, and the World Bank Group Norwegian Trust Fund for Private Sector and Infrastructure. FINADEV's other shareholders include Financial Bank Tchad, the anchor investor with 50 percent; Lafayette Participations-- a Paris-based investment fund (10 percent); and 15 percent held by Groupe Vilgrain, a French agro-industry firm, through its subsidiaries Compagnie Sucrière du Tchad and Société de Management des Industries Alimentaires et Agricoles.
Shahbaz Mavaddat, IFC’s associate director for small and medium enterprises, said, “Microfinance is critical to private sector development, the creation of wealth and jobs, and the improvement of people’s lives in Chad. IFC is proud to have played an important role in the creation of FINADEV, especially because it is as a fully commercial institution that does not rely on donor funds for sustainability.” He added, “IFC’s work with FINADEV underscores our capacity building initiatives in the country, which will leave the local private sector better placed to reap the benefits of the new economy that the pipeline will create.”
Note to Editors:
For background information on IFC’s loan to the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project and its accompanying comprehensive environmental, corporate and social sustainability framework, see
The mission of IFC (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY03, IFC has committed more than $37 billion of its own funds and arranged $22 billion in syndications for 2,990 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY03 was $16.8 billion for its own account and $6.6 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
