Proparco and Ecobank Group have signed a new agreement to mobilise up to €300 million over the next three years to finance agricultural value chains and support women-owned businesses across Africa, marking a significant expansion of their long-standing partnership.
The deal, announced on May 11, 2026 at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, signals a renewed focus on scaling private-sector investment in agriculture—one of Africa’s most critical yet underfunded sectors.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Proparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency, will deploy a suite of financial instruments to support Ecobank’s lending across agricultural production, processing and trade.
The partnership is expected to target funding gaps that continue to constrain growth across the continent’s food systems.
Ecobank Group CEO Jeremy Awori said the initiative is designed to deliver capital directly into the real economy.
“Africa’s growth requires execution at scale. Through this expanded partnership with Proparco, we are mobilising €300 million and directing it into agricultural value chains and women businesses supported by our Ellevate programme,” he said.
“This is capital at work in the real economy, financing food, livelihoods and local value creation.”
A major pillar of the partnership will focus on improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating within agricultural value chains.
Proparco will provide partial portfolio guarantees—through its Impact+ and ARIZ programmes—to reduce lending risk for Ecobank.
This is expected to unlock up to €100 million in financing for agri-SMEs across Ecobank’s network spanning 33 African countries.
The agreement also targets larger-scale agro-industrial investments through co-financing and risk participation structures, addressing the chronic shortage of long-term funding for agro-processing businesses.
These investments will support companies involved in both staple and cash crop value chains.
In addition, Proparco will back Ecobank’s agricultural commodity trade finance operations through partial risk guarantees, helping to increase liquidity for traders.
This component alone could mobilise up to €200 million, strengthening supply chains and stabilising food availability in key markets.
The initiative comes amid rising global and regional pressures on food systems, driven by geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions, and high input costs such as fertilisers and energy.
Agriculture accounts for roughly 20 percent of Africa’s GDP and employs nearly half of its workforce, yet financing remains disproportionately low.
The partners said scaling up investment in the sector is both an economic necessity and a strategic response to growing food insecurity risks across East and West Africa.
Proparco CEO Françoise Lombard emphasised the broader development impact of the partnership.
“Agriculture is at the heart of Africa’s future, yet it remains one of its most underfinanced sectors,” she said.
“By deepening our partnership with Ecobank, we are unlocking concrete, large-scale solutions across the entire agricultural value chain while supporting food security and reducing inequalities.”
Alongside the financing agreement, Proparco and Ecobank signed a commitment letter to support Ecobank’s Ellevate programme, which focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs.
With Proparco’s backing, the programme will roll out 12-month training camps in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya, targeting 400 women entrepreneurs.
The initiative will cover business and financial management, while also improving access to finance, networks and digital tools.
Since its launch in 2020, Ellevate has expanded to more than 30 African countries and supported over 84,000 women-owned businesses.
The latest agreement builds on a relationship dating back to 2012, during which Proparco has provided more than $400 million in financing to Ecobank through loans, trade finance guarantees and SME risk-sharing mechanisms.
The renewed partnership reflects a shared ambition to strengthen Africa’s financial ecosystem by leveraging Ecobank’s pan-African footprint and Proparco’s development finance expertise.
For both institutions, the deal positions agriculture and inclusive finance at the centre of Africa’s growth agenda, with a strong emphasis on scalability, resilience and long-term impact.
Source: businesspostonline
