Ecobank and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will collaborate on the launch
of a continental initiative, with a view to supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)
African women in the face of the economic and social challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This project carried out in tandem by the two organizations aims to create a centralized platform that will address the
challenges and needs of companies during and after the covid-19 crisis. According to the official announcement
produced for this purpose, it should constitute “a global, flexible, comprehensive and universal tool for MSMEs
in the formal and informal sectors on the continent”.
“AUDA-NEPAD and Ecobank Group intend to jointly build a platform
continent based on our initial campaign '100,000 SMEs by 2020'", argues Dr Ibrahim Mayaki,
Executive Secretary of AUDA-NEPAD. Said platform "will provide an immediate response to the impact
potential of COVID-19 on SMEs and job creation on the continent”.
In addition to this, it is also about identifying opportunities and innovative ways to support and
to protect companies (among others in the agri-food, technology, health, and supply chains
supplies).
As a reminder, AUDA-NEPAD was established in 2010, in order to integrate the New Partnership for
Development of Africa (NEPAD) in the structures and processes of the African Union. This new tool
develop with Ecobank, aims to offer better listening to MSMEs across the continent,
allow the agency to prioritize its actions in response to the pandemic, in the short, medium and long term.