Technical assistance project – Choose Africa 2 Benin

As part of Choose Africa 2, Expertise France provides technical assistance to strengthen the strategic, operational, and institutional functions of three actors in Benin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), Fonds d'Investissement et de Garantie des PME (FIGPME), and Agence de Développement des PME (ADPME).

1. Support for CDC Benin

We support CDC Benin in implementing its activities and strengthening its key duties, in particular in its delegated-project management role in the Choose Africa 2 project in Benin.

2. Support for FIGPME structuring and operationalisation

The objective is to accelerate the implementation of FIGME, an SME investment and guarantee fund, by:

• giving it the capacity to fulfil its main duties;
• positioning it within the financial ecosystem;
• contributing to the capacity-building of its teams.

3. Continuation of the Entrepreneurship Support Project alongside ADPME

Following support initiated during the first phase of technical assistance, we are supporting the SME Development Agency (ADPME) to ensure the fluidity and consistency of the activities of the Project to Support Entrepreneurship. This comes against the background of new members joining the project, the growth of structuring activities, and the transfer of skills to ADPME.

This support seeks to:

• consolidate methodological achievements: planning, monitoring and evaluation, ESG compliance, administrative and financial management, procurement;
• maintain a high level of quality of implementation via (i) mobilisation of ad hoc expertise to support the project team in carrying out certain tasks and (ii) quality control for non-objection requests, etc.
• facilitate dialogue with AFD.

The SME Development Agency is called on to play a key role in Benin’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Technical assistance will provide support in the growth in importance of ADPME as a reference institution, by aligning its tools and its position with national ambitions in terms of structural transformation of the economy through SMEs.

The technical assistance system will focus on:

• strengthening the core business departments;
• the strategic coordination of activities and the alignment of initiatives to promote SMEs in Benin;
• project management for establishing a marketing support window;
• monitoring and reviewing the National Policy for SME Promotion and Development and its implementation strategy.