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The Ecobank Group and the New Partnership of the African Union Development Agency for the Development of Africa (AUDA-NEPAD) hosted a virtual graduation ceremony for more than 200 alumni of the first training program for financing Ecobank MSMEs.
The graduates came from the eight countries of the pilot phase of the MSME Academy, namely Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda and Togo.
The MSME Academy, launched by the Ecobank Group and AUDA-NEPAD in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, is part of AUDA-NEPAD’s “100,000 MSME” transformational initiative, a continental response to Covid-19.
The Academy offers entrepreneurs, owners and managers of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) coaching, mentoring and business skills training courses.
Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group who attended the ceremony, said: “We had no hesitation in supporting AUDA-NEPAD’s 100,000 MSME initiative.
“The framework we have collectively designed rests on three essential pillars that MSMEs need to build resilience in these unprecedented times, namely access to capacity, access to finance and access to markets.
“The graduation ceremony is another milestone in our journey and our commitment to supporting MSMEs and helping them become the great companies of tomorrow.
“My sincere congratulations to the 2021 funding MSME training class. This is the start of healthy success for your businesses and Ecobank is here to help you become a major business leader on our continent” .
For his part, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, said: “This graduation comes at the right time, after the first anniversary of the 100,000 MSME Initiative.
“The ceremony builds on other important milestones reached so far, including the launch of the Initiative in 13 Member States, reaching over three million participants, mostly micro-entrepreneurs, who have discovered the potential of the MPME Academy platform.
“I would like to congratulate Ecobank for its commitment to the success of this program. I wish the graduates of this program the best.
About 3000 MSMEs applied for the MSME training for the Ecobank finance program, of which 850 were shortlisted in the 8 pilot countries.
The six-week program covered 4 modules and 15 training sessions per country – in total – 120 sessions were delivered in the 8 countries.
In the third quarter of 2021, Ecobank will offer a unique work-study program to the more than 2,000 remaining SMEs that have registered but have not been shortlisted in the training program which has just ended.
The aim is to ensure that no MSMEs who have expressed a desire to be part of this learning experience are left behind.
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