The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) launched an off-grid facility for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on March 15.
The $75-million facility is aimed at facilitating access to debt financing for SMEs, primarily targeting renewable-energy businesses in the off-grid energy sector, as well as SMEs in the broader infrastructure value chain that operate in the region served by TDB.
The facility will preserve household economic activity in the short term and support firm productivity in the medium term by enhancing the liquidity of SMEs involved in infrastructure value chains affected by the Covid-19 crisis, the bank states.
The TDB SME Off-Grid Facility will prioritise infrastructure projects with significant development impact and high private-sector mobilisation potential and will have stringent environmental and social eligibility criteria.
Primary beneficiaries of the facility will be private firms and entities in 22 TDB member States involved in the supply, construction and operation of infrastructure projects.
“The facility is an innovative tailor-made instrument positioned to address current financing challenges faced by renewable energy and off-grid SMEs. It offers affordable financing, including working capital or capital expenditure, with longer tenors, and other non-financial incentives.”