AFREXIMBANK wins award for investing in Sierra Leone
Afreximbank has been awarded Best Export Credit Agency Africa at the Trade Finance Awards Dinner, for the bank’s financing of the Hilton Freetown Cape
Sierra Hotel which was listed as one of the programmes that contributed significantly towards the attainment of the bank’s trade and economic development mandate.
As Africa’s trade finance bank, Afreximbank has played a pivotal role in the development of several African economies.
Since 1994, it has approved more than $51 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $10.3 billion in 2016, and at the recent Afreximbank Conference held in Rwanda, the Rwandan Finance Minister commended it for the part it had played in his country’s economic transformation.
Afreximbank already has experience of successfully investing in Sierra Leone, with IDEA UK’s Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra Hotel, which received project finance under Afreximbank’s Contour Africa Facility.
The Contour Africa Facility is a risk sharing facility introduced by the Bank with a view to promote tourism. Under the facility, it shares the risk of developing hotels and tourism facilities by transferring construction risks to parties better able to manage the risk.
IDEA UK is a Sierra Leonean infrastructure developer and management organisation, founded by a team of Sierra Leoneans, including Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, (currently Team Lead for the President’s Delivery Team). As Investment Director for IDEA UK, she was responsible for bringing in Afreximbank’s financing.
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Investments Director of IDEA was present at the Awards Dinner and was delighted to see Afreximbank recognised for its role in financing the Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra Hotel.
