SME V-WAVF (IFC-599421)

Countries
  • Liberia
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
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
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
Jul 27, 2017
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
West African Venture Fund (WAVF)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Advisory Services
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 0.83 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.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 5, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Mar 1, 2018

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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.

The SME Ventures WAVF advisory project ("SME V-WAVF") will deliver integrated technical assistance to the West Africa Venture Fund /Prj#28783 through the fund manager, Unique Venture Capital ("UVC"). WAVF is one of the first IFC SME Ventures funds vintage 2010. IFC and Cordaid are 74% and 25% investors in the $18.5 million fund respectively. (UVC 1%).

WAVF has invested $11.5 million in 25 SMEs across Sierra Leone and Liberia. The combined effects of Ebola and reduction in mineral mining revenues have severely depressed both economies. UVC has some experience managing a portfolio of SMEs in Nigeria; however, regarding PE and WAVF, it is a first time fund manager.

A significant impairment of 33% was recorded by the fund manager in December 2015, dropping the portfolio down to $7.7 million and IFC and Cordaid as investors are supportive of a post Ebola Business Plan to work out how the portfolio will recover from the down turn in the two economies.

The technical assistance for WAVF will therefore focus on the Post Ebola business plan and recommendations on viable exits and portfolio value creation for recovery. This includes bringing in benchmark industry expertise and seeking sale opportunities for exits.

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

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.

No project contacts available at the time of disclosure

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

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