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Newsletter n°25 | April 2019

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IN THIS NEWSLETTER

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Christian MARTIN
President of Ebalé, new fund dedicated to African contemporary art

"African artistic creation is a tangible and powerful reality, rooted in time and drawing on the heart of the continent, its rhythms and cultures. It sends a message to the world as universal as that of European, American or Asian artists. These artists speak and show about their society and its future, something that no one else can express like them. They illustrate the innovative capacity of their continent and are therefore a decisive marker of the journey made and to come. [...]

Atelier d’Amani Bodo, Kinshasa, 2016. © Angalia

The proposals today are based on intuition rather than on any established certainty. There is a strong need to explore new spaces, new practices and new fields of reflection, at a time when the old models of cultural cooperation between States are slowly dying. Can we now meet the challenge of being investors and partners in the African artistic and cultural scene? [...]

This intuition is taking shape with two concrete projects in which I&P is involved: The investment in the Fund Ebalé, which aims to facilitate the career development of young visual artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo the imminent launch of the Programme Afrique Créative, aimed at supporting cultural and creative enterprises in 4 African countries."

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I&P Conseil is engaged in accelerating
cultural and digital enterprises in Africa

I&P Conseil is committed to the deployment of new and ambitious projects in the digital and cultural industry sectors: through its involvement in Afrique Excelle, a pan-African program that supports French-speaking African technical and digital start-ups, and through the Afrique Créative program, which focuses on cultural and creative industries.

These two news projects reinforce and expand the field of expertise of I&P Conseil, launched in 2017 to contribute to improving the business environment and the business ecosystem in Africa.

Cécile Carlier, Directrice d'I&P Conseil © Afrique Excelle

I&P is among the first 60 adopters of the "Operating Principles for Impact Management", designed by the International Finance Corporation. These principles aim to bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market. (read more in the section analysis below)

The 3rd edition of our traning on impact investing, led by I&P Conseil, is in preparation ! Organized in partnership with the Institut des Hautes Etudes du Développement Durable, the training will take place in Paris from 17 to 19 September. Registration is now open! (the training will be exclusively in French.)

Job Zongo is the new Managing Director of Sinergi Burkina, the impact fund sponsored by IPDEV 2 and dedicated to the financing and support of small businesses with high potential in Burkina Faso.

Discover his profile
on our website!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ PORTRAIT ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Aramatou COULIBALY,
Director of RAMA CEREAL, new investment of the ivoirian fund Comoé Capital

RAMA CEREAL is an Ivorian agro-industrial company specialising in the processing of cereals such as millet, maize and rice .

We met her promoter Aramatou Coulibaly, who in 2005 took over the management and formalized the small business founded by her mother, and now intends to take this project further thanks to the support of Comoé Capital, the first impact investment company dedicated to financing and supporting small and medium-sized businesses with high potential in Côte d'Ivoire.

Read the interview

▬▬▬▬▬ NEWS OF THE PORTFOLIO ▬▬▬▬▬

After two years of lobbying, Laiterie du Berger obtained an important victory: local milk will no longer be subject to 18% VAT (which until then penalized the company, the only local milk producer, compared to imported powdered milk).
Read more

PEG Africa, specialized in the distribution of solar panels in rural and peri-urban communities, has just raised $25 million to accelerate its deployment in West Africa. Today the company has more than 70 service centres, 300,000 beneficiaries and 400 employees.
Read more

Enko Education launches the program « Knowledge for College », an e-learning course to support African high school students in their university applications. Enko hopes to see more and more of its students access prestigious international universities.
Read more

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ NEW INVESTMENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Miarakap, the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting small and medium-sized Malagasy companies has acquired a stake in the microfinance institution APEM PAIQ.

For more than 20 years, APEM PAIQ has been offering loans to small Malagasy entrepreneurs and farmers located in Antananarivo and its surroundings. Miarakap's equity investment marks a new phase for the institution and will enable it to grant 15,000 loans by 2023. A major opportunity for thousands of small entrepreneurs who are looking for financing solutions adapted to their needs.

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Focus on the new Operating Principles for Impact Management

On April 12, I&P was one of the first 60 investors to adopt the IFC's "Operating Principles for Impact Management", conceived as rigorous and transparent market standards for impact investing. This represents a fundamental step to build the impact investing market and aligning it around good practices.

In addition to the principles, the IFC released a new report entitled "Creating Impact - The promise of Impact Investing". The report presents practical suggestions to harmonize and grow the market in support of the promise of impact investment, which is to have impact at greater scale in support of global development.

As the impact investing sector grows, the risk of "impact washing" becomes more and more critical. This risk is now highlighted by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), which reaffirms the core characteristics of impact investing to ensure the market scaled with integrity.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ AGENDA ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

►Aix-en-Provence, April 29-30: Cécile Carlier (I&P Conseil) will particpate to the bootcamp of Diafrikinvest, which will kick off their new acceleration program

►Brussels, May 6: J.-M. Severino will participate to EU-Africa roundtable, organized by the King Baudouin Foundation during Brussels SDG Summit

►Washington, May 13-15: E. Debled and J.-M. Severino will participate to EMPEA/IFC private equity conference

►Dakar, Week of June 10 : Official launch of the program Afrique Créative, with Cécile Carlier

►Abidjan, June 12: Launching event of Africa Radio en Côte d'Ivoire, in presence of the board (J.-M. Severino, Lionel Zinsou, Momar Nguer, Manu Dibango, A'Salfo and Dominique Guihot)

►Paris, July 10: Launching event of I&P's new education fund

►Lagos, July 23-24: I&P will participate to ANDE West Africa conference

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ WHAT'S NEW AT I&P? ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I&P is among the first 60 adopters of the "Operating Principles for Impact Management", designed by the International Finance Corporation. These principles aim to bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market. (read more in the section analysis below)

Job Zongo is the new Managing Director of Sinergi Burkina, the impact fund sponsored by IPDEV 2 and dedicated to the financing and support of small businesses with high potential in Burkina Faso. Discover his profile on our website!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ NEW INVESTMENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ AGENDA ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Job Zongo is the new Managing Director of Sinergi Burkina, the impact fund sponsored by IPDEV 2 and dedicated to the financing and support of small businesses with high potential in Burkina Faso.

Discover his profile
on our website!