Baobab RSFs (IFC-49102)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Burkina Faso
  • Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Ivory Coast
  • Madagascar
  • Mali
  • Senegal
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Baobab SAS
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 120.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 200.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Dec 30, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 17, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the proposed project consists of two multi-country unfunded Risk Sharing Facilities (RSFs) totalling up to $120 million in IFC’s Maximum Risk Amount to be allocated across six Participating Affiliates (PAs) of Baobab Group legally domiciled in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Madagascar, Mali, and Senegal with Burkina Faso, DRC, Madagascar and Mali classified as IDA FCS countries. These RSFs represent the first regional facilities of this kind for microfinance institutions and will be structured as follows:

- An Agri RSF of up to $70 million (in local currency equivalent), through which IFC will guarantee up to 70% of a consolidated portfolio of loans to smallholder farmers, cooperatives, agri-SMEs, and agri-enablers, with total exposure up to $100 million.
- An SME RSF of up to $50 million (in local currency equivalent), where IFC will guarantee 50% of an aggregated portfolio of MSME loans, with a total exposure of up to $100 million.                                                   

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The project will support on-lending to SME and Agriculture clients across six African subsidiaries of Baobab Group, namely Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal. The targeted SME portfolios are mainly exposed to sectors such as trade, services, construction, production and agriculture with overall medium environmental and social (E&S) risks. Therefore, the project has been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with IFC’s Sustainability Policy. The key E&S risks and impacts derive from the capacity of Baobab subsidiaries to identify and manage the potential environmental and social risks associated with its lending activities: labor and working conditions, Occupational Health and Safety, air emissions, waste management, production and handling of hazardous materials biodiversity, and any other relevant E&S risk.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

-An Agri RSF of up to $70 million (in local currency equivalent), through which IFC will guarantee up to 70% of a consolidated portfolio of loans to smallholder farmers, cooperatives, agri-SMEs, and agri-enablers, with total exposure up to $100 million.

-An SME RSF of up to $50 million (in local currency equivalent), where IFC will guarantee 50% of an aggregated portfolio of MSME loans, with a total exposure of up to $100 million.

The proposed IFC investment consists of two multi-country unfunded Risk Sharing Facilities (RSFs) totaling up to $120 million in IFC's Maximum Risk Amount to the six Baobab subsidiaries considered under the Project, allocated as follows:

SME RSFs through BAOBAB SLGP (52690):
Burkina Faso (52646) - $10 million
Côte d’Ivoire (52644) - $10 million
DRC (52642) - $10 million
Mali (52650) - $10 million
Senegal (52648) - $10 million

Agri-RSFs:
Burkina Faso (52647) - $7 million
Côte d’Ivoire (52645) - $35 million
DRC (52643) - $3.5 million
Madagascar (52652) - $7 million
Mali (52651) - $3.5 million
Senegal (52649) - $14 million

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Baobab Group is an MFI group with operations in 7 countries in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal) and a focus on MSMEs. The group was founded in 2005 with a focus on Africa and China, with IFC as one of the founding shareholders. Baobab SAS, the holding company of the group, is legally domiciled in France and oversees and manages the various subsidiaries. Its main shareholders include AXA (with a 34.3% stake through two legal entities AXA Belgium S.A and AXA Impact Fund), the European Investment Bank - EIB (15.3%) and three asset management companies (Apis Partners for 21%, GOJO & Company for 16.3%, Norwegian Microfinance Institute for 11.8%). As of March 2025, Baobab offers credits products, savings accounts, payments and insurance products to a total of 551,098 active customers.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Baobab Group
Christina REIFSCHNEIDER
Group CFO
+33 (0)1 85 73 19 00
creifschneider@baobabgroup.com
1 rue de Gramont, 75002 Paris, France
www.baobabgroup.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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