Announced by the Think & do Tank Team RM in partnership with the Confederation of Financial Institutions for West Africa (CIF), the Ecobank group and the Louis Lamothe Foundation of Haiti, the international webinar intended to prepare the actors of the economy to resilience in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis was held from May 26 to 28, 2020 under the patronage of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, current Chairman of the African Union (AU).

The speakers were all there. From the former Prime Minister of Benin Lionel Zinsou to the Togolese Paul Harry Aithnard, UEMOA zone director of Ecobank, passing by the Gabonese Minister Claude Bilie By Nze of Foreign Affairs and his Ivorian counterpart Ally Coulibally, the panelists posed the debate of the post-Covid-19 and put forward avenues and strategies for the economic recovery of SME/SMI activities in African States.

Thus, the meeting made it possible to refocus the debate on the economic response around the real economy which, according to the speakers, must be boosted by microfinance. It recommends, among other things, the establishment of a tax system sensitive to the shock caused by the pandemic, and insists on the need to accelerate the establishment of regulatory infrastructures and systems intended to promote the digitization of financial services. Similarly, participants called for the introduction of financial education in training centers and the establishment of technical support for SMEs.

The first initiative of its kind, this webinar provides for the establishment of a task team to coordinate and follow up on the recommendations, and the sustainability of the workshop with the actors of the inclusive economy according to a frequency to be defined.

In addition, former Minister Reckya Madougou, main promoter of the event, announced the forthcoming launch of her initiative to finance African VSMEs by "business Angels", in partnership with banks and financial organizations present at the webinar and other partners. “It will be concrete and top, and in the form of pitch projects,” she confides to Financial Afrik.

"The projects selected will experience the acquisition of a stake by business angels in their capital or will obtain credits from our partners", adds the international expert in inclusive finance and development mechanism.