The International Finance Corp. and the Africa Local Currency Bond Fund are anchoring Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire’s gender bond with 4.9 billion West African francs ($7.8 million). Ecobank issued the bond last week to raise 10 billion francs ($17 million) to support 1,200 women-owned and -led businesses. The five-year gender bond has a 6.5% annual interest rate and a two-year repayment grace period.
Its proceeds will support Ecobank’s women-focused lending program, Ellevate, which disbursed 13.3 billion francs ($21 million) to 3,500 women-led businesses. “The proceeds for this gender bond, and its alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals, coupled with supporting Ecobank’s first-ever West African franc bond issuance, were the key considerations for our support of this transaction,” said ALCB Fund’s Brock Hoback.
Developing bond markets
ALCB is a 2012 initiative of Germany’s KfW. It anchors up to 30% of bond issuances in Africa in local currency. Calvert Impact Capital, Dutch development bank FMO and FSD Africa are among its investors. As of 2024, the fund had committed $363 million in over 95 bond issuances in 16 countries. The European Commission committed €100 million ($108 million) in 2023.
KfW has provided guarantees for investors in order to mobilize €820 million in private investments by 2027.
