Startups and small businesses in Cameroon have a new funding opportunity to tap from. Proparco, a subsidiary of French Agency for Development dedicated to the private sector, has announced the signing of a partnership with the Cameroon subsidiary of the French banking group, Société Générale, to guarantee loans granted by this bank to Cameroonian startups, SMEs and SMIs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The deployment of this exceptional guarantee, a new tool implemented as part of the resilience component of Choose Africa, will allow us to expand our action with small and medium-sized Cameroonian companies, in particular those which are severely affected by the current crisis. We are happy to be able to count on a partner such as Société Générale to meet the needs of these companies and preserve their ability to create jobs “said Audrey Maignan, Proparco’s regional director for Central Africa.

Here Is What You Need To Know

• The guarantee made available to Societe Generale Cameroon, will allow local startups, SMEs and SMIs to benefit from financing, enabling them to recover from the global health crisis. The amount of the guarantee is 5 million euros ($5.5m), or a little over 3 billion FCFA. 

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Proparco Société Générale Cameroon

How Startups In Cameroon May Go About Accessing The Loan Guarantee

Startups which can access the loans are those with fewer than 200 people affected by the crisis. The duration of the loan, before repayment is between 12 to 48 months. These loans, which may represent up to 3 months of turnover for 2019 will be guaranteed up to 80% by the AFD group. 

Since November 2020, the Cameroonian subsidiary of Societe Generale, thanks to partnerships signed respectively with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the State of Cameroon, has a line of credit of CFAF 35 billion ($64m) to support SMEs and PMI affected by the coronavirus. The guarantee that Proparco has just granted should both secure and boost the distribution of this funding.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer