300 African SMEs To Meet Prospective Financiers In Senegal

 Niyi Aderibigbe Entrepreneurs, Financing, SME Heroes

VENTURES AFRICA – Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to Africa’s economic progress, representing 90 percent of privately-owned indigenous business entities, 33 percent of the continent’s GDP and account for 45 percent of new jobs yearly.
This is why the Africa SME Champions Forum will convene about 300 SMEs in Dakar, Senegal’s capital city on November 11 and 12, 2014 to network and focus, among other things, on concrete solutions to the numerous challenges facing African managers, including financing.
“This forum will be the first direct access platform to finance for the SMEs,” said Didier Acouetey, founder of specialist recruitment agency AfricSearch, co-organiser of the event with the African Guarantee Fund and the pan-African bank Ecobank.
Masterclasses, customised consultancy spaces bringing together high-quality experts, and a mentoring programme will make it possible to meet
people’s expectations at the event.
“The idea is to bring together at a single location an entire range of tools, networks and services dedicated to SMEs to allow them to put in place, on their return, the methods shared by the community of the Africa SME Champions Forum,” Acouetey explained.
300 SMEs, from the five regions of Africa, will be invited to the forum following strict criteria: they must be officially registered in Africa, have been legally created at least three years ago, have turnover of at least $1.5 million and a minimum workforce of 10 employees. SMEs that meet these criteria are expected to submit their application on the Forum site.
Financial institutions are also expected to be present at the Forum, as well as high-quality experts and policymakers.
The African Champions, having recognised that SMEs are transforming the African economy, “will be at the heart of the transformation of the continent,” Gervais Koffi Djondo, co-founder of the Ecobank group declared.
The Africa SME Champions Awards will also be part of the Forum. The Awards sponsored by the African Guarantee Fund, will reward the champions of the future and the top-class financial institutions in support of SMEs.