The financial sponsor of the project is Advans Group, which plans to take a 50.1% stake in Advans Ivory Coast. Other planned shareholders include the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with 13.3%, The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) with 13.3%, The “Fonds d’Investissement et de Soutien aux Entreprises en Afrique” (FISEA) with 13.3% and Societe General Ivory Coast (SGBCI) with 10%. Advans Group’s sponsors include Horus Development Finance and La Fayette Participations (the technical sponsors) with 5.85%, and several development finance organizations with strong involvement in microfinance: the European Investment Bank (EIB) with 20.47%, FMO with 17.54%, KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW) with 17.54%, AFD with 11.7%, CDC Group with 17.54% and IFC with 9.36%.

The total project amount is estimated at approximately $11.3 million over 5 years. The proposed IFC funding consists of an equity investment of up to $1.1 million, and technical assistance funding of up to $1.0 million.

0.99 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	0.99

* These investment figures are indicative

Advans Ivory Coast will focus on micro and small enterprises in urban and semi-urban areas, beginning in the city of Abidjan. Over time, the Bank will expand into other regions of the country, such as Bouake, San Pedro and Yamoussoukro.

The main development impacts are twofold: (i) Demonstration effect: consistent with IFC's strategy to set-up greenfield institutions in frontier markets, supporting the first commercial microfinance institution in Ivory Coast presents an excellent opportunity to develop the sector and attract new entrants. (ii) Access to finance for underserved segments: over the next five years, the project will provide over EUR 120 million of financing by 2014 year-end through approximately 90,000 loans. As newer financial products are introduced (savings, micro-insurance, domestic and international transfers, mobile banking, etc), more than solely credit needs of the clients will be serviced. Additionally, the geographical spread is expected to widen as Advans Ivory Coast expands to other urban areas, smaller towns and provincial capitals.

IFC has a pivotal role as founding shareholder of Advans Ivory Coast by bringing a package of equity and TA financing and attracting other investors to support the start-up of this new microfinance institution in a post-conflict country in Sub Saharan-Africa. IFC will provide additionality to the proposed project in the following ways: (i) IFC's participation in the project brings extensive microfinance expertise and also the unique combination of investment as well as Advisory Services funds. This will support the new institution's ability to start operations, effectively scale up and build local capacity; (ii) IFC brings its experience in terms of operational best practice, global network, corporate governance and environment and social standards; and (iii) IFC's unique credibility among microfinance investors and local banking authorities will help Advans Ivory Coast to raise additional resources and is often a crucial factor in convincing the banking authorities to grant operational license.

This project involves IFC support for the business of Microfinance, and has been classified as a Category FI project according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedure. Considering the nature of activities supported, the project will be required to:

(i) Develop a procedure relevant to its business process, prior to commencement of operations, that is satisfactory to IFC, and that ensures that all its investments are screened and processed to avoid supporting activities on the Microfinance Exclusion List;
(ii) Identify qualified persons to manage and implement the procedure;
(iii) Demonstrate commitment and resources to implementing the procedure;
(iv) Demonstrate commitment to applying the labor standards established by the IFC Performance Standard 2: Labor and Working Conditions; and
(v) Submit a periodic report to IFC as per a format to be provided by IFC.