Awards for Excellence 2020
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Citi has the largest presence of any global bank in Africa – active in over 40 countries, with offices in 16 of those. The bank excels at capacity building and innovation, working with a vast array of partnerships with government, government agencies, fintechs, local financial institutions, consumer goods companies, social enterprises and nonprofits.
These partnerships work across each component of environmental, social and governance – and this year Citi wins the award for best bank for sustainable finance in Africa.
The bank has partnered with the governments of Benin, Nigeria and now Kenya for training on green finance and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. At the end of 2019, Citi Inclusive Finance worked with Citi Kenya and TTS Export Agency Finance to extend a local currency financing to d.light – a solar products financier and distributor in the emerging markets.
Through the $5 million working capital facility d.light has sold over 20 million solar light and power products in 70 countries, improving the lives of over 97 million people.
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Eugene Amusin |
Also in Kenya, Citi worked with African Trade Insurance to provide a regional liquidity facility of up to $20 million to address off-taker liquidity risk in the financing of renewable-power projects.
In social impact, Citi continues its work with partner One Acre Fund, and last year it reached one million farmers through its digitized loan repayment programme with Citi M-Pesa mobile collections.
One Acre ensures the financial health of smallholder farmers through finance and training. Citi, working with CalBank in Ghana, provided $108 million in financing to support small and micro enterprises.
Further support for micro-entrepreneurs was given in Tunisia in December.
Citi closed a $10 million loan, disbursed in Tunisian dinars, that will enable financial inclusion partner Enda Tamweel to provide growth financing to more than 17,000 micro-entrepreneurs, most of whom are female.
It’s not just about finance, points out Eugene Amusin, senior vice-president at Citi Inclusive Finance.
“The same households also lack access to energy, agricultural inputs and other basic services, so we are looking at how to use digital finance to address these issues as well,” he says.
Amusin points out that the firm has lent approximately $1 billion to microfinance institutions around the world, reaching 3.4 million micro and small businesses, 93% of which are owned by women.
Citi was also one of several bookrunners on the African Development Bank’s $3 billion Covid-19 social response bond.
