Page 5 - THE NOTICEBOARD EDITION 63 OCTOBER 2020

October, 2020 Page 5

AUDA-NEPAD Partners Ecobank Group

to Launch all Africa’s Micro Small &

Medium Enterprises Academy

MSMEs were invited to join the
Academy's first series of
informational webinars tailored
for MSME operating in Ghana on
August 21. The webinar provided
tips on access to finance and
building a digital presence.
Ade Ayeyemi
CEO of Ecobank Group
he all Africa Micro, Small The AUDA-NEPAD 100K MSMEs
and Medium Enterprises programme is focused on the
T(MSMEs) Academy is now implementation of the Agenda
Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki
available in Ghana. The '100,000 2063 Aspiration number one, AUDA-NEPAD CEO
MSMEs by 2021' programme which aims at building a institutions specialized in MSME
was launched by the African Prosperous Africa, based on support such as incubators and
Union Development Agency Inclusive Growth and Sustainable accelerators, and a community
(AUDA)-NEPAD and the Ecobank Development. The programme will
of peers, mentors and advisors.
Group. The MSME Academy provide support to African MSMEs
provides easy access to practical and is structured in three pillars, M S M E M a r k e t p l a c e : a
training and resources on namely: the MSME Academy, consolidated marketplace of
financing opportunities in MSME Marketplace and MSME marketplaces, enabling MSMEs
various countries, how to build a Financing Support Programme to t o a c c e s s e - c o m m e rc e ,
digital presence for businesses be delivered through an MSME procurement and alternative
and how to adapt business Digital Platform. financing opportunities across
operations in the era of the
the continent.
COVID-19 pandemic. MSME Academy: The MSME MSME Financing Support
Academy aims to build the Program: a scheme that will
The Pan African MSME Academy capacities of MSMEs across Africa bring together financial
offers free access to market through a combination of relevant institutions, guarantee funds
intelligence, a host of mentors content library, a network of and other institutions to reduce
with diverse experience, while the cost of risk for lenders to
assisting with access to funding
deliver capital to MSMEs at
opportunities.
scale. The objective is to radically
The MSME Academy will have expand access to finance by
three components: aggregating smaller financial
· a n i n f o r m a t i o n a l institutions such as micro-credit
webinar with invited institutions and credit unions
speakers, that have access to micro-
· a series of virtual enterprises, standardizing their
instructor-led trainings and processes and building trust in
· mentorship for the their capabilities.
MSMEs.

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