The African Guarantee Fund (AGF), in collaboration with the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), will host the 9th Edition of the Green Finance Conference and Trainings in Lagos, Nigeria from Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th March 2024.
The Green Finance Conference, organised by AGF and sponsored by NDF, is a crucial response to the challenges posed by climate change within the framework of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). With a focus on providing enhanced expertise to African countries, the conference aims to facilitate increased financing for low-carbon development.
The conference holds paramount significance for financial institutions as it realistically analyses existing opportunities and proposes practical solutions to address financing for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) committed to green growth and climate-resilient development.
Previous Green Finance Conferences & Trainings have been held in Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Mozambique, and Malawi. Building on this success, the 9th Edition promises to be an enlightening and impactful event.
The event includes a specialised 3-day Green Finance Training for Senior Executives of financial institutions. Tailored to equip financial leaders with the tools and knowledge necessary to navigate the evolving landscape of sustainable finance, this training will focus on Credit Risk and Product Development in the context of Green Finance.
AGF Group Director of Business Development, Franck Adjagba said, ‘‘We are establishing a significant collaboration with banks to secure funding for environmentally friendly micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. The goal is to ease the financial support for green businesses in the country. Nigeria plays a pivotal role in global climate discussions and contributes significantly to shaping AGF’s objectives of enabling the country tailor its strategies towards global discourse on climate-related matters.’’
The upcoming Green Finance Conference and Training, spanning four days, promises a dynamic gathering of key stakeholders, including Government representatives, Development Financial Institutions, CEOs, NGOs, and Green SMEs. This collaborative platform will discuss financing challenges and opportunities for Green SME projects, offering a rich environment for innovation and insight.
About AGF:
African Guarantee Fund (AGF) is a specialised Guarantee provider whose mission is to facilitate economic development and poverty reduction in Africa. To achieve this, AGF increases access to finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across key economic sectors through its guarantee products and capacity development assistance. Since its inception, AGF has issued a guarantee portfolio of approximately USD 1.9 billion, unlocking more than USD 3.5 billion in SME financing, through partnerships with 200 partner financial institutions in 40 African countries. As a 2X Challenge qualified institution, AGF is committed to supporting women-owned/led businesses through the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Guarantee for Growth program, which aims to unlock up to USD 3 billion in financing for women SMEs in Africa. AGF also fosters sustainable growth by offering a green guarantee facility to lending institutions to enable them to increase access to finance for SMEs investing in climate and green growth-oriented economy. AGF is backed by the following shareholders and sponsors: The Government of Denmark through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Government of Spain through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), the African Development Bank (AfDB), French Development Agency (AFD), Nordic Development Fund (NDF), Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), German Development Bank (KfW), French Agency for Private Sector (PROPARCO), West African Development Bank (BOAD), Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and USAID’s West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (WATIH). African Guarantee Fund is rated AA- by globally renowned Fitch Ratings. For more information, please visit: www.agf.africa
About the Nordic Development Fund (NDF)
The Nordic Development Fund is a joint multilateral development finance institution for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. NDF was created in 1989 and adheres to the development assistance policies of the Nordic countries and is funding around 190 development assistance credits valued at EUR 1 billion. The NDF provides climate change-related investments under its new mandate, established in 2009. The NDF’s offices are in Helsinki, Finland. The objective of the Nordic Development Fund’s (NDF) operations is to facilitate climate change investments in low-income countries. Grants to the NDF are given in cooperation with bilateral and multilateral development institutions. NDF operations reflect the Nordic countries’ priorities in the fields of climate change and poverty reduction. The operations are financed from the development cooperation budgets of the five Nordic countries. For more information visit: https://www.ndf.int/
For more information about the conference, visit www.greenfinanceseries.com