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Fonds Africain de Garantie et de Coopération Economique
FAGACE was established in 1977 by a treaty among francophone African states seeking a shared mechanism to guarantee loans and unlock investment.
Fonds Africain de Garantie et de Coopération Economique
FAGACE was established in 1977 by a treaty among francophone African states seeking a shared mechanism to guarantee loans and unlock investment. Its 14 member countries — spanning West and Central Africa — fund the institution and govern it through a board, making it a sovereign-backed multilateral rather than a private family office or fund. The current Director General, Ngueto Tiraïna Yambaye, previously served as Chad's Minister of the Economy and brings a policy-level perspective to the institution's underwriting decisions. FAGACE operates primarily as a partial credit guarantor: it covers a share of lenders' losses on loans to small and medium enterprises, infrastructure projects, and agricultural value chains, thereby reducing the risk that keeps commercial banks on the sidelines. Its product suite includes loan guarantees, equity participations, and refinancing lines, deployed across sectors including energy, agribusiness, water, and transport. In recent years, it has signed cooperation agreements with Export Development Canada (EDC) for joint project financing, with SNV Netherlands Development Organization for energy and agriculture programming, and with CDC Benin for domestic economic financing. The institution has also engaged the Islamic Development Bank as a potential future shareholder, signaling an intent to broaden its capital base. FAGACE maintains its headquarters in Cotonou, Benin, with additional representation offices in Douala (Cameroon), Kigali (Rwanda), and Dakar (Senegal). It is a member of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), which has assigned it favorable financial ratings. In 2025, FAGACE hosted the 36th edition of the Club des Dirigeants de Banques et Établissements Financiers d'Afrique, convening African banking executives and reinforcing its role as a convener in development finance. It also operates the FAGACE Institute in Cotonou, a training arm that builds capacity in project finance and guarantee operations across member states. Structurally, FAGACE is a guarantee fund masquerading as a multilateral development institution: it takes no deposits and does not lend directly. Its balance sheet acts as a loss absorber that allows local banks to lend to borrowers they would otherwise reject. This architecture makes it more a credit-enhancement utility than a typical DFI — it amplifies existing banking infrastructure rather than building parallel channels. The 2020 appointment of Yambaye, a former sovereign finance minister, sharpened the institution's interface with member-state treasuries and donor partners, aligning its guarantee decisions more closely with national development priorities.
General information
Firm type
Government / Public Body
Year founded
1977
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Africa
Country
Benin
City
Cotonou
Corporate office
298, Boulevard CEN-SAD Rue 12 044, Cotonou, Benin
Additional offices
Douala, Cameroon · Kigali, Rwanda · Dakar, Senegal
Principals
Ngueto Tiraïna Yambaye
Director General
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at FAGACE?
Ngueto Tiraïna Yambaye has served as Director General since 2020. He is the former Minister of the Economy of Chad. His appointment shifted the institution's strategic interface toward closer alignment with member-state treasuries and bilateral development partners.
Is FAGACE a development bank or a guarantee fund?
FAGACE is a guarantee fund, not a direct lender. It provides partial credit guarantees to commercial banks, absorbing a share of losses on loans made to SMEs, infrastructure projects, and agricultural enterprises. It does not take deposits or make direct loans to end borrowers.
How is FAGACE funded, and which countries own it?
Fourteen francophone African countries provide FAGACE's sovereign capital through treaty-based contributions. The member states pool resources to back the guarantee portfolio. The institution has also engaged the Islamic Development Bank as a potential future shareholder, which would diversify its capital base beyond its founding member governments.
Does FAGACE invest directly in companies or only provide guarantees?
FAGACE offers both loan guarantees and equity participations. The guarantee book is its primary operation, designed to catalyze commercial bank lending. Equity positions are smaller and typically paired with development mandates, not taken for standalone financial returns.
Which sectors does FAGACE explicitly target?
Energy, agribusiness, water, transport, and SME finance are the institution's stated priority sectors. Partnerships with SNV and TechnoServe underscore an operational focus on agriculture and poverty reduction, while the cooperation agreement with Export Development Canada signals a growing emphasis on energy and infrastructure projects.
How is FAGACE related to other African development finance institutions?
FAGACE is a member of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), which evaluates and rates its financial governance. It co-operates with bilateral DFIs such as EDC and multilateral bodies like the Islamic Development Bank, but it is independently governed by its member states and maintains its own treaty-based legal personality.
What is FAGACE's relationship with the Beninese government?
FAGACE is headquartered in Cotonou under a host-country agreement with Benin. It maintains a strategic partnership with CDC Benin for domestic financing. However, Benin is one of 14 equal member states in the governing structure — FAGACE is not a Beninese state entity but a multilateral organization hosted on Beninese soil.
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