The proposed project is a line of credit of USD 8 million to the banking group Vista Bank in Guinea (Conakry). Vista Bank is a company with a new brand and a unique vision. Besides Guinea, it has banking subsidiaries in Sierra Leone and The Gambia; and aims to create a world-class pan-African group. Vista Bank is also working to deploy a new growth strategy that aims to gradually diversify the portfolio towards Guinean SMEs. It has 16 agencies in Guinea, including 9 in Conakry and 7 in the interior of the country; which together serve around 2,000 business customers, 80% of which are SMEs. This financial support should help support a dozen small and medium-sized enterprises microfinance institutions active in the agricultural value chain in Guinea. It is aimed primarily at women, who will benefit 60 percent of the resources of this line. Particular attention will therefore be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas, operating in the agricultural, livestock and agro-pastoral processing sectors, as well as young agricultural entrepreneurs. Over half of the resources in this line of credit are for microfinance institutions, partners of Vista Bank and will cover the needs of over 3,000 microprojects. In addition, Vista Bank will provide entrepreneurs with support in the form of advice, technical support, management and training to maximize the success rate of the operation. The African Development Bank will also support Vista Bank in boosting the capacity of its agricultural credit officers, risk management, project management, environmental and social management systems, and management and reporting. development results.

The project is intended to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of the Guinean populations. Deployment of resources in support of SMEs will enable SMEs to access long-term resources and to make investments that have been inaccessible until now, due to lack of adequate resources. The project should lead to improving the rate of industrialization of Guinea, thanks in particular to the creation of value chains through the local processing of agricultural products.

The proposed facility is expected to generate solid development outcomes. One hundred per cent of the LoC placed at its disposal will be on-lent to SMEs, 72M of them in rural areas. This will help to unlock access to financing for the very vulnerable populations, thereby fostering wealth and local job creation, indispensable for reducing poverty and curbing rural exodus. Since 57% of the LoC will be on-lent to microfinance institutions active in rural areas and working with youth, this will help to finance over 3,000 micro-projects developed by women and youth especially in the handicrafts and agriculture sectors and help to develop Guinea's agricultural potential. Vista Bank will lend the LoC to 9 SMEs whose value creation will impact 1,051 additional people. Among them, 624 will have direct jobs, 100 others temporary jobs and 327 smallholders' associations will have market outlets for their agricultural produce. Forty-five per cent of these smallholders' associations will be women's associations, involved in the whole value chain, from production to sale on markets.

private-sector@afdb.org

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/.