The Fund for African Private Sector Assistance is a three year old trust fund that is managed by a small team in the Private Sector Department at the AfDB. It is one of three components under the
Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) initiative, which was established in partnership with the Government of Japan. The objective of FAPA is
to build capacity in the African private sector with technical assistance grants. Here are some examples of recently committed grants:
- A USD 950,000 grant to build capacity in the Franchising Sector of Egypt, which is linked to a USD 40 million loan to the Egyptian Social Fund for Development.
- A USD 1,000,000 grant to the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) to improve ATI's ability to meet customer needs in trade credit and financing insurance.
- A USD 642,237 grant to Access Microfinance Bank-Tanzania (ABT) to fund start up costs of a greenfield microfinance bank oriented to financing SMEs and women's entrepreneurship. Funding will pay for consultant-managers to build and train local management and staff over the first three years of ABT's operations.
FAPA is currently undergoing conversion to a multi-donor thematic trust fund, which will allow for contributions from other donors. Japan's USD 30 million in contributions will soon be enhanced by contributions from the Danish Government under the Sustainable Energy Initiative.
