Project profile — Accelerating Business Growth in Ethiopia

• Ethiopia (100.00%)

• Banking And Financial Services: Education/training in banking and financial services (24081) (30.00%)
• Business And Other Services: Business support services and institutions (25010) (30.00%)
• Agriculture: Agricultural development (31120) (10.00%)
• Industry: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development (32130) (30.00%)

• Gender equality (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (principal objective)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project aims to strengthen the financial, social and environmental performance of small and medium businesses (SMEs) so they are better able to attract and manage finance, including private equity financing, and scale up their companies. This will enable SMEs to play a stronger role in poverty reduction through the creation of more and better jobs for Ethiopians. Project activities: (1) provide business incubation and development support services to improve women and men-owned entreprises’ access to finance, including initial equity investments by North American angel investors; (2) build the capacity of local institutions and financial professionals to assist growth-oriented SMEs to access finance, and; (3) build international and domestic investor awareness of Ethiopian investment opportunities. This project hopes to create better and more sustainable employment for 7,700 Ethiopians and support the growth of 500 economically, environmentally and socially sustainable Ethiopian SMEs.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) improved financial, social and environmental performance of selected Ethiopian women and men-owned SMEs to drive sustainable and responsible growth; (2) increased effectiveness of Ethiopian institutions and financial professionals to facilitate women and men-owned SMEs’ access to finance; and (3) increased funding flowing to Ethiopian SMEs from foreign and domestic investors, lenders and donors.

Results achieved as of March 2018 include: (1) provision of legal support and closed new investments with two SMEs: one in a logistics company and one in a global restaurant brand - to be announced in May 2018); (2) launch of the second cohort within the Accelerator program (the executive’s program) with a total of 17 executives enrolled, representing 14 SMEs of which 9 are women-led; (3) launch of the second cohort of the chief financial officer (CFO) 100 program with a total of 33 finance professionals enrolled, representing 33 SMEs from which 10 are women; (4) trained 156 SME business owners on private equity under the incubator program; (5) grew the Impact Angel Network (IAN) by 36 members, of which seven persons are Canadians; (6) launch of Chigign ‘Tobiya, in partnership with Tonetor Multimedia, aimed at raising awareness of and building interest in entrepreneurship locally in Ethiopia. The TV series is being broadcasted on national television (FANA TV), and involves entrepreneurs looking to raise seed capital, pitching their ideas to a panel including RENEW and three other local angel investors; (7) launched the ‘Women in Finance Series’ aimed at empowering and inspiring women finance professionals in Ethiopia. Held two sessions in partnership with two banks: first one in November 2017, and the second edition in March 2018. These results have contributed to strengthen the financial, social and environmental performance of small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Ethiopia, so they are better able to attract and manage finance, including private equity financing, and scale up their companies.

• Proactive disclosure