Guinea - Vista Bank - Africa SME Programme

The proposed project is a line of credit of USD 8 million to the banking group Vista Bank in Guinea (Conakry). Vista Bank is a company with a new brand and a unique vision. Besides Guinea, it has banking subsidiaries in Sierra Leone and The Gambia; and aims to create a world-class pan-African group. Vista Bank is also working to deploy a new growth strategy that aims to gradually diversify the portfolio towards Guinean SMEs. It has 16 agencies in Guinea, including 9 in Conakry and 7 in the interior of the country; which together serve around 2,000 business customers, 80% of which are SMEs. This financial support should help support a dozen small and medium-sized enterprises microfinance institutions active in the agricultural value chain in Guinea. It is aimed primarily at women, who will benefit 60 percent of the resources of this line. Particular attention will therefore be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas, operating in the agricultural, livestock and agro-pastoral processing sectors, as well as young agricultural entrepreneurs. Over half of the resources in this line of credit are for microfinance institutions, partners of Vista Bank and will cover the needs of over 3,000 microprojects. In addition, Vista Bank will provide entrepreneurs with support in the form of advice, technical support, management and training to maximize the success rate of the operation. The African Development Bank will also support Vista Bank in boosting the capacity of its agricultural credit officers, risk management, project management, environmental and social management systems, and management and reporting. development results.