Nigeria and other African countries have benefited from €108 million invested through the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Boost Africa initiative over the past 10 years.
European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, disclosed this on Wednesday at a media briefing in Abuja.
According to Mignot, the initiative has also attracted nearly €400 million in additional investment and contributed to the creation of about 15,000 jobs across sub-Saharan Africa.
He said the programme was designed to go beyond providing capital, noting that it also seeks to strengthen the broader business ecosystem needed for startups and growing companies to survive, expand and compete.
Mignot described Africa’s young entrepreneurs as one of the continent’s greatest assets, stressing that innovative businesses could help create jobs, strengthen local value chains and generate sustainable economic opportunities.
“Nigeria is one of Africa’s most dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we believe that supporting innovation and enterprise is essential for sustainable economic growth and job creation,” he said.
The ambassador explained that a Nigerian company that develops a successful solution in Lagos and subsequently expands into countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa would represent a stronger form of value creation and the emergence of a genuinely pan-African business.
Also speaking, the EIB Country Relationship Manager for Nigeria, Moussa Nkoulima, described the initiative as a combination of capital, technical assistance and ecosystem development.
Nkoulima said Boost Africa was launched in 2016 by the EIB and African Development Bank, with support from the EU and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), to address the shortage of early-stage funding for African entrepreneurs.
He said the EIB had worked with six venture capital funds under the initiative, with the €108 million investment helping to attract an additional €400 million from other investors.
