Al Amana IS II (IFC-37152)

Regions
  • Middle East and North Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Morocco
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
FI
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
Feb 3, 2016
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
ASSOCIATION AL AMANA POUR LA PROMOTION DES MICROENTREPRISES
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)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 6.67 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 6 million
Converted using 2016-02-03 exchange rate.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 6.67 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 6 million
Converted using 2016-02-03 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 31, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Nov 9, 2015

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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.

This project funds Al Amana, a Moroccan micro-finance institution. Al Amana will use the funds to provide loans towards low and middle income entrepreneurs in Morocco.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Job Creation and Poverty reduction: The proposed investment is expected to have a high impact in facilitating micro and small enterprises access to finance - an area of key strategic priority for IFC. As IFC assists Al Amana to increase and diversify its sources of funding, in a difficult economic and sector context, the project addresses the need to serve those segments of the population that lack the most access to credit; hence seeking to (i) reduce income disparities in the country, and (ii) contribute to job creation.

Demonstration Effect and Sector Development: The proposed IFC loan, in a liquidity shortage context, will send a strong signal to international investors and local commercial banks, which will help mobilize additional sources of funding to Al Amana and the sector.

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

Al Amana is the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in Morocco with over 38% market share, and one of the largest MFI in the MENA Region. It was established in 1997 with equity granted by US Agency for International Development to focus on provision of micro credit to the rural areas of Morocco. Volunteers in Technical Assistance, a US based development NGO, provided initial project design and management expertise. Following the passage of Morocco's Microfinance Law in 1999, Al Amana was registered with the ministry of finance as a non-profit association for the promotion of micro enterprises with tax free status. Al Amana's target group includes low or middle income entrepreneurs and micro enterprises which do not have access to financing from Morocco's financial sector.


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.

Project Inquiries:
Mr. Youssef Bencheqroun
Chief Executive Officer
Al Amana

Cité Yacoub ElMansour,
40 Avenue Al Fadila,
Rabat 10130, Morocco
Telephone: +212 537 289 500
Fax: +212 537 289 411/12/13

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/

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