African Guarantee Fund and RAWBANK have strengthened their partnership with the signing of a new USD 70 million agreement aimed at strengthening the SME sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This renewed partnership between AGF and RAWBANK has so far unlocked more than USD 300 million in additional financing for nearly 1,000 Congolese SMEs.

In addition to the risk-sharing mechanism, the new agreement allows AGF to continue providing support in the form of technical assistance to RAWBANK, but also to its clientele’s SMEs, through training.

Commenting on the development of this partnership, Mustafa Rawji, Managing Director of RAWBANK, said: “SME development is a critical focus for our bank. Our strategic objectives for 2025 include financing 20,000 SMEs in the DRC. We are therefore deploying a fairly massive internal infrastructure. Extensive training and a recruitment campaign are in place to achieve this goal by December 2025.”

Jules Ngankam, Managing Director of the African Guarantee Fund Group, echoed this sentiment, adding: “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with the DRC’s leading bank. Since 2016, AGF has supported RAWBANK with guarantees that have fostered an increase in lending to SMEs across all economic sectors. This new portfolio guarantee will strengthen RAWBANK’s ability to finance SMEs and is fully aligned with the institution’s growth strategy.

With these additional capabilities, RAWBANK will place a particular emphasis on financing women-led businesses. RAWBANK has demonstrated a consistent commitment to improving financing for women’s entrepreneurship in the DRC through its dedicated financing program known as Lady’s First. Jules Ngankam added: “Thanks to this new guarantee and the support of the Initiative to Promote Access to Finance for Women in Africa (AFAWA), RAWBANK is undeniably on the right track to significantly increase financing for women entrepreneurs in the Congo.”

Source: Africa Guaranteed Fund