BOA-Congo Senior Loan (IFC-49231)

Countries
  • Congo, Republic of
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
Approved
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."
Voting Date
Jun 16, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Bank of Africa Congo
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 25.50 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 Sep 1, 2025

Disclosed by Bank May 13, 2025

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

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 investment is a US$ 25.5 million Senior Loan (XAF equivalent) (“SL”) for up to 5 years with a grace period of 2 years to support BOA Congo scale-up its Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (“MSME”) lending in the Republic of Congo. The Project will include Women MSME (“WMSME”) targets, with at least 10% of the proposed Loan proceeds earmarked for women owned/led MSMEs.                                                  

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 entails a senior loan to Bank of Africa Congo to support MSMEs. The MSME sector supported by the bank primarily includes trade, financial services/real estate, transportation, telecommunications, buildings construction and public works, and manufacturing. The E&S risks and impacts associated with the MSME activities are considered limited and readily addressed through established mitigation measures. The overall portfolio risk is considered medium. Thus, the Project has been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with IFC’s Sustainability Policy.

The risks are typically associated with occupational health and safety, waste and wastewater management, resource utilization, and labor and working conditions, among others.

The Project will not support coal-related activities, or higher risk business activities that may include: a) involuntary resettlement, b) risk of adverse impacts on indigenous peoples, c) significant risks to or impacts on the environment, community health and safety, biodiversity, cultural heritage, or d) significant occupational health and safety risks.

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

The proposed investment is a US$ 25.5 million Senior Loan (XAF equivalent) fully for IFC’s own account, for up to 5 years with a grace period of 2 years.

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.

BOA Group, a longstanding partner of IFC, was founded in 1982 in Mali and serves as the primary sponsor of the transaction.

BOA Congo’s ownership is led by BOA-BMCE with a 38% stake, followed by Humbert PENDINO (23%), Bernard BELTRANDO (21%), the Government of Congo (11%), Raymond IBATA (4%), and Southern Cross Finance S.A. (3%). BOA Group will soon takeover BOA-BMCE’s stake in BOA Congo.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Bank of Africa (BOA) Group S.A. Parent Company -

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.

BOA Congo S.A.
Aristide houenagnon KOUGNI
CFO
+2422810978
a.kougni@boa-cg.com
BP 2889, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
www.boa-cg.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

How it works

How it works