British International Investment has extended a €30 million term loan to NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire to alleviate the working capital deficit for local micro, small, and medium enterprises. The facility mandates that at least 30 percent of funds support women-led businesses, addressing critical financial inclusion gaps in the Ivorian economy.
According to official disclosures, British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s primary impact investor and development finance institution, has finalized a €30 million term loan agreement with NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire, a key subsidiary of the prominent West African financial services conglomerate NSIA Group. The capital injection is specifically structured to resolve severe working capital constraints facing Ivorian micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which currently generate a fifth of the national gross domestic product and nearly a quarter of total employment.
Despite their macroeconomic significance, these local businesses frequently encounter systemic barriers to securing traditional credit due to inadequate collateral requirements. By deploying this dedicated liquidity facility, the partnership directly mitigates these structural financing deficits within the regional banking sector. Furthermore, the agreement is formally aligned with global gender-lens investing standards, mandating that a minimum of 30 percent of the deployed capital is directed toward women-owned commercial entities.
This strategic deployment underscores BII’s expanding footprint in West African financial intermediation. It marks the institution's second capital commitment to the NSIA network this decade, following a previous €12 million securitization backing for NSIA Bank Benin. For institutional investors and regional stakeholders, this continued deployment signals a growing appetite for targeted, gender-inclusive credit facilities across Francophone Africa, potentially catalyzing broader private sector participation in the region's SME ecosystem.
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