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The Alliance focuses on leveraging the expertise of its members to improve the entrepreneurial climate and MSME growth by facilitating investment and providing technical advisory services for long-term sustainable development through pooled financial and non-financial instruments.
The Alliance is a unique initiative driven by its members working together to solve market failures impacting entrepreneurship and M(S)ME growth.
Supports innovative and pioneering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with financial and technical services (with a focus on women- and youth-owned businesses)
Increases the capacity of entrepreneurs to access finance, launch and scale ventures
Promotes innovation and inclusive economic growth for both the short and long-term
Works with public sector partners to improve the business climate and support reforms that create new markets for sectors with high-growth potential
Explore the latest estimates of the MSME finance gap across Sub-Saharan Africa using 2025 data from the SME Finance Forum. Compare financing gaps by country, gender, and enterprise type—including formal and informal SMEs—to identify market opportunities, understand financing constraints, and support evidence-based decisions to expand access to finance across Africa
Evaluates EIB's gender equality strategy and includes references to facilities such as Africa Women Rising and women's entrepreneurship-related technical assistance. Useful for gender finance and women's economic empowerment learning.
Sets out EBRD's food and agribusiness strategy with an emphasis on sustainable food systems and private-sector engagement. Useful for agribusiness SMEs, value chains, food security and climate resilience.
Details a transaction designed to promote access to finance for women entrepreneurs and MSMEs in Tanzania, including allocation of proceeds to women-owned or led MSMEs.
Reports FY24 impact data including employment, diversity and inclusion, environmental policies and investee-level impact. Useful for investors and entrepreneurs interested in impact reporting practices.
Reflects I&P-supported projects across Africa and highlights progress toward inclusive, sustainable and resilient African economies. Useful for SME investment and entrepreneurial ecosystem learning.
Summarizes TDB's trade finance solutions for sovereign clients, financial institutions, corporates, PPPs and SMEs. Useful for understanding trade finance instruments that support African business and value chains.
Reports IFAD development results, including jobs, enterprises accessing business development services, farmer organizations, value chains and climate-resilient practices. Useful for tracking IFAD's contribution to rural enterprise ecosystems.
Summarizes Proparco's 2024 activities and impact, including Choose Africa-related work and support to SMEs, entrepreneurs, employment, gender equality and climate resilience.
Includes Choose Africa 2 and the Group's entrepreneurship and SME support agenda in Africa. Useful for understanding French development finance approaches to African entrepreneurship and SME growth.
Summarizes IFC's MSME finance approach and portfolio, including the MSME Finance Platform launched in 2024. Useful as a concise reference on MSME finance priorities and instruments.
Provides practical guidance on serving MSMEs through digital banking models, partnerships, risk management, and market extension. Useful for financial institutions and ecosystem actors supporting SME finance in Africa.
Assesses venture capital and the growth of Africa's technology startup ecosystem. Relevant to startup finance, innovation, venture capital, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and digital business models.
Digital firms in the attention economy use business models that monetise consumer attention, mainly through advertising. This provides free or discounted services to users, who "pay" by viewing ads. While this creates economic value, it also brings negative side effects—such as reduced cognitive abilities—that may impact GDP. Compared to traditional media, digital platforms, especially social media, amplify these effects due to their unique features. Regulators can address these harms, for example, by restricting the most damaging platform features.
Reports AfricInvest's impact and sustainability approach, including climate-risk integration, employment, inclusion and private capital. Relevant for private equity and venture capital in Africa.
Presents TDB Group's 2024 financial and non-financial performance and development relevance, including trade, infrastructure, financing solutions, and regional economic integration.
Reviews implementation of a rural financial inclusion facility, relevant to rural finance, financial institutions, and smallholder/enterprise access to finance.
Describes short-term trade and long-term project/infrastructure finance solutions in energy and other sectors, including clients such as SMEs. Relevant for energy-sector SMEs, project finance and value chains.
Maps sustainable finance rules and implications for DFIs and investees, including reporting requirements that can affect SMEs and investment funds. Useful for impact investors and private capital managers.
Describes a programme to foster climate-resilient production and enhance inclusivity in profitable value chains in Northern Nigeria. Useful for value-chain and rural enterprise practitioners.
Reports FinDev Canada's financing commitments supporting sustainable infrastructure, agriculture, nature-based solutions and access to finance for SMEs. Relevant for gender, climate and market development.
Sets out FinDev Canada's development impact approach focused on climate and nature action, gender equality and market development through private sector financing and blended finance.
Summarizes a FinDev Canada debt investment in Stanbic IBTC Bank, including anticipated development impacts and 2X Challenge qualification. Relevant to Nigerian financial sector and SME lending.
Reviews implementation of the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, which aims to increase incomes for smallholder farmers through agriculture as a business, agribusiness, innovation and new technologies.
Explores why African SME funds struggle to raise capital and how more capital can be mobilized for funds serving SMEs. Highly relevant for SME finance, fund managers, DFIs and impact investors.
Covers I&P's investment continuum from seed funding and acceleration to SME financing, and explains how I&P supports entrepreneurs and impact investment companies across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Focuses on I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 1 and the challenges faced by African SMEs, including macroeconomic volatility, political risk and access to suitable investment models.
Highlights impacts of IPAE2 portfolio companies, including employment growth, fragile-country investments and gender-related achievements. Useful for learning on SME investment impact in Africa.
Provides an overview of the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa, including achievements, future prospects, member expansion, knowledge sharing and ecosystem-building strategies.
Provides case studies and global insights to support the more effective use and scaling of blended finance structures. Useful for DFIs, fund managers and SME finance platforms.
This report, "Success Stories in the Creative Industries in Africa and Other Emerging Markets," profiles 12 creative businesses from six African countries and compares them with 10 examples from markets such as India and Vietnam. Conducted through Proparco’s CREA Fund technical assistance, the study aims to deepen understanding of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) and promote increased investment in the sector.
Regional economic outlook for West Africa, relevant for understanding macroeconomic conditions, structural constraints, and opportunities for SMEs, entrepreneurship, and private-sector-led growth.
Explores barriers faced by women-owned firms in accessing trade finance and international markets, with interviews in Kenya and Nigeria among other markets. Useful for gender-lens SME finance, trade finance, and export-oriented entrepreneurship.
Focuses on IFC's Banking on Women approach in Africa and illustrates how financial institutions and advisory support can unlock value for women-owned businesses. Relevant for women entrepreneurship, SME finance, and financial sector strategies.
IFC's 2024 annual report includes references to African business digitalization, private sector finance, women entrepreneurs, SMEs, trade, jobs, and digital transformation. Useful as institutional context for IFC's private-sector and SME-facing priorities.
Provides an overview of EIB circular economy work, including financing and advisory for projects that reduce resource use, support sustainable growth, create jobs, and improve business models. Useful for green SMEs and circular-economy entrepreneurs.
AfDB's flagship continental economic report covers Africa's macroeconomic outlook and development financing agenda. Relevant for understanding the enabling environment for entrepreneurship, private sector development, investment, and industrialization.
Regional economic outlook for East Africa, including macroeconomic conditions and policy issues that shape SME growth, investment, regional trade, and private-sector development.
Sets out IFAD's strategy to promote inclusive and resilient rural economic growth through market-driven agrifood system transformation and agribusiness value chains.
Analyzes industrial policy and transition to market-oriented economies. Useful for policy makers and practitioners considering industrial upgrading, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and private sector development.
Reports on EBRD impact in green, digital, inclusive and private-sector development. Includes data on support for women-led firms and business finance through local banks.
Analyzes digitalization opportunities for African firms, including formal businesses and microbusinesses. Relevant for SME productivity, tech adoption, digital infrastructure, startups, and private investment opportunities across Africa.
Covers the Rural Enterprises Programme, including business development services, technology support, and access to finance for micro and small enterprises in Ghana's rural districts.
Includes legal and governance analysis relevant to business competitiveness, ESG, supply-chain integration and access to finance. Useful for enabling environment and SME governance.
Explores the private sector's role in fragile contexts, including resilience, jobs, essential services, and DFI investment approaches. Relevant to SMEs and entrepreneurs operating in fragile African markets.
Covers private-sector participation in sustainable and resilient cities, including urban services, infrastructure, municipal finance and partnerships. Useful for SME opportunities in urban infrastructure value chains.
Includes priorities to scale up SME advisory, competitiveness, women entrepreneurs, digitalization, exports, value chains, start-ups and incubators in Morocco.
Reviews private-sector financing opportunities for climate and green growth in Kenya. Relevant to investors, SMEs, and entrepreneurs active in climate-related sectors.
Reports Proparco's development impact across private sector initiatives, including businesses, financial institutions, climate and sustainable development. Relevant for DFI financing and impact measurement.
Analyzes the African banking sector, financing conditions, shocks, gender diversity in business and banking, sustainable finance, and support for economic development and climate action.
Highlights TDB Group's impact, including financing SMEs and sectors with broad value chains, employment and livelihoods. Useful for trade finance, regional integration, and value-chain finance.
Provides institutional and financial overview of TDB Group, including trade and development finance activities relevant to regional integration, infrastructure, value chains and SMEs.
Provides Africa-wide analysis of economic trends, risks, investment needs, and development priorities. Useful for SME and entrepreneurship stakeholders tracking macroeconomic conditions and private-sector opportunities.
Assesses the role of private sector financing in climate action and green growth in Nigeria. Relevant for green SMEs, climate finance, and sector-specific investment opportunities.
Describes I&P's work financing and supporting SMEs in Africa, with impact metrics and insights from more than 260 SMEs across over twenty African countries.
Analyzes green growth and private sector financing in Uganda, highlighting investment opportunities and policy considerations. Relevant to climate-smart businesses and investors.
Shows AfricInvest's impact approach, investment decision-making, ecosystem-building role in African private equity and venture capital, and insights on impact challenges and opportunities.
Focuses on major transitions including sustainability, reconfigured global supply chains, and micro-level transitions affecting firms and households. Useful for SME competitiveness and private-sector policy.
Summarizes EDFI member investments and development finance activity. Useful for understanding European DFI private sector development, impact investing and capital mobilization in Africa and other emerging markets.
This initiative aims to promote modern and innovative entrepreneurship within the Community area, fostering the emergence of “national and regional champions” in the private sector.…
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The Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan (ARRP), spearheaded by Equity Group, is a blueprint for accelerating Africa’s social and economic transformation. The Plan recognizes that…
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The Transform & Adaptation Fund (TAF) is an innovative Pan-African blended finance vehicle seeking to accelerate climate finance flows towards equal, accessible, and affordable solutions…
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"AfricInvest V” targets investments across diverse sectors and regions, with a particular focus on geographies where the firm maintains a strong local presence. The fund…
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The AfricInvest Small Cap Fund is a multiregional, impact-focused fund designed to support African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high growth and impact potential. The Fund…
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The Transform Health Fund (THF) is an innovative, impact-driven blended finance vehicle designed to bridge critical healthcare financing gaps in Africa. THF supports high-impact, growth-stage…
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SIV is a housing platform that provides affordable and climate-resilient housing in North, East and West Africa, starting with Morocco.
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MSME Finance Program seeks to increase lending to priority sectors such as women entrepreneurs, MSMEs contributing to food security, first-time MSME borrowers, and MSMEs in…
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The YEIB aims to strengthen service delivery to ecosystems and entrepreneurs, to promote private sector-led inclusive economic development, by creating entrepreneurship opportunities for the youth.…
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IFC and Proparco are partnering to facilitate access to sustainable trade finance for emerging African markets and develop intra-Africa trade. Through risk distribution, financial institution…
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The IFC’s Startup Catalyst is a platform designed to invest in incubators, accelerators, and seed funds. The Catalyst targets innovative early stage start-ups in emerging…
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Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are considered the backbone of the economy in most emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). MSMEs typically represent a…
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E3 Capital and Lion’s Head Global Partners (renamed Cygnum Capital Group) have announced a first close for the E3 Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF) for…
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NURU develops and operates commercially-viable isolated solar-hybrid “metrogrids” (utility-scale urban mini-grids) that provide reliable, affordable and clean energy in the Eastern region of the Democratic…
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A combined financing and advisory services program to orchestrate the transition of Africa’s agriculture toward a more productive, competitive, and sustainable system, and achieve food…
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The Star Venture programme links know-how, access to finance and networks to support growth and the development of start-up ecosystems. This Alliance programme is structured…
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Medical Credit Fund (MCF) was launched by the PharmAccess Group as a debt fund fully dedicated to financing small and medium-sized healthcare businesses in African.…
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ARIZ and EURIZ Portfolio Guarantees: these portfolio guarantees granted by Proparco will enable Ecobank Togo to increase its financing of Very Small and Medium Enterprises…
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I&P Afrique Expansion III (IPAE III) targets SMEs and tech enabled start-ups. Investment strategy: focus on impact, inclusion and access to essential goods & services…
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FMO has partnered with the Alliance for Entrepreneurship by putting Fin'Elle on the platform to share lessons, build partnerships and mobilize financing. Fin'Elle, La Finance…
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The AfricInvest Small Cap Fund is a multiregional, impact-focused fund designed to support African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high growth and impact potential. The Fund…
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LMFCF provides debt finance to fintech companies across frontier and emerging markets to enable access and the creation of new financial products and services for…
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The diagnostic study on the integration of markets in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in pan-African regional markets will focus on specific value chains where there…
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Boost Africa (“BA”) is a joint initiative between the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, with financial support of the European Commission (“EC”)…
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The proposed operation consists of Janngo Capital Startup Fund (the “Fund” or “Janngo”), a new venture capital fund targeting startups operating in the digital and…
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Affirmative Finance Action for the Women of Africa (AFAWA) is a pan-African initiative created to bridge the $42 billion financing gap facing women in Africa.…
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By bringing together motivated actors with common interests, we create a space for sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices. This encourages innovation and collaboration between our members, resulting in innovative, creative solutions to problems to catalyze MSME development.
As an inclusive body, the Alliance also seeks to diversify and expand its membership to banking and non-banking financial institutions, business and innovation training providers (i.e., incubators, accelerators, universities), as well as other public and private sector organizations (i.e. foundations, philanthropic organizations, venture capital firms, etc.). The initiative has consciously developed a flexible membership structure to facilitate membership.
The Alliance forEntrepreneurship in Africa (AforE) emerged from the 2021 Summit on the Financing of African Economies (SFAE) Declaration, which identied MSME growth as a cornerstone of sustainable and inclusive development in Africa.
This report aims to provide an overview of the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa (AforE), highlighting its achievements, future prospects, and strategies for fostering innovation and collaboration among members and stakeholders.
The Declaration from the Summit on the Financing of African Economies (SFAE) held on 18 May 2021 set the priority to support entrepreneurship in Africa, specifically micro, small & medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as a critical factor in achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
