Towards a green economy: the eco.business Fund for Africa

• KfW makes EUR 18 million available
• Contribution towards protecting biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture, forestry, fishery and environmentally-friendly tourism
• Reconciling Africa’s economic growth and its increasing demand for food with environmental principles

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and together with German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr Gerd Müller, KfW announced the launch of the new independent eco.business Fund for Africa today at the Green Week in Berlin. The first EUR 18 million are being made available by KfW. The Fund channels loans through local banks to forestry and agricultural businesses and cooperatives in Africa, or pays out the loans directly. Finance in Motion is responsible for advisory services for the fund. Prerequisites for receiving financing are sustainable production methods in agriculture and forestry, fishery and tourism – with a particular emphasis on abstaining from deforestation. The fund is based on a concept that has already been successfully implemented in Latin America and that is now being transferred to Africa. As in Latin America, one of the aims is to mobilise additional private capital to supplement public funding.

Prof. Joachim Nagel, Member of the Executive Board at KfW Group, who launched the Fund together with Federal Minister Dr Gerd Müller, explains that, “Africa is facing a multitude of challenges: the continent must reconcile economic growth, security of food supply and ecological sustainability. This can only be achieved by establishing a green economy, in which the financial sector plays a decisive role and finances the ecological reconstruction of major sectors of the economy, which include agriculture and forestry as well as eco-tourism. The innovative approach of the eco.business Fund is of key importance here.”

Find out more at kfw-entwicklungsbank.de

eco.business Fund