The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has just reaffirmed its commitment to supporting African SMEs. On Monday, July 12, it announced that it had invested 25 billion USD in the pan-African fund Vantage Mezzanine IV

The main development institution focused on the private sector in emerging countries has just launched an investment that focuses on supporting companies based in Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt and other African countries engaged in job-creating sectors. This is particularly true in the areas of health, tourism, manufacturing, information and communication technologies (ICT), and telecommunications. “This investment is a boost to this important alternative source of growth capital for mid-sized African businesses,” said Warren van der Merwe, managing partner of Vantage. For his part, Kevin Njiraini, IFC Regional Director for Africa, stressed that: “Vantage Mezzanine IV will play an important role in providing underserved mid-sized businesses with an alternative form of growth capital in Africa's emerging private credit and mezzanine finance space.” According to data from EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets, Africa accounts for only about 4% of total private credit funds raised for emerging markets