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Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa holds vast potential and requires significant investment to build critical infrastructure, expand access to electricity and technology, and address major challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic.
 DFC is committed to supporting investments that address critical development challenges throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, from Ethiopia to Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, and emerging economies across the region.The agency has invested more than $10 billion across Sub-Saharan Africa in key sectors such as infrastructure, women’s economic empowerment, healthcare, and agriculture, as well as climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. These investments support U.S. development and foreign policy goals by serving as a stabilizing force across the continent, and they advance the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa and Power Africa initiatives.
 Investment Stories
      
      Supercharging climate-resilient growth in rural Africa and Asia
    Improving access to quality healthcare across Africa
    Revitalizing Kenya’s organic pesticide industry and improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers
    Raising capital for low-income housing in West Africa
    Supporting the world’s smallest farmers
    Increasing water access in Asia and Africa
    Fueling equitable transportation and entrepreneurship in South Africa
    Helping rural Kenyans and Ugandans purchase essential household goods
    Tackling a critical need for data center infrastructure across Africa
    Expanding renewable energy generation and storage in Malawi
    A new model for investing in women
    Tackling water scarcity in Sub-Saharan Africa through local entrepreneurship
    Financing Sierra Leone’s first major utility-scale power plant
    Reducing child stunting in Zambia
    Leveraging technology to improve access to capital for small businesses in Africa and Asia
    Expanding access to clean water and sanitation
    Improving food security by bolstering cold storage in Morocco and Senegal
    Strengthening treatment of chronic disease in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Investing in food security in Niger
    Helping off-grid energy providers weather pandemic-related disruptions
    Helping small businesses in Liberia access long-term lending
    Reducing carbon emissions in East Africa
    Expanding vaccine manufacturing in Africa
    Introducing electric buses to improve transportation and reduce emissions in Senegal
    Helping women-owned businesses in East Africa weather the disruptions of COVID-19
    Expanding renewable power generation in Kenya
    Helping a growing population of refugees access critical financial services
    Expanding solar power in the Central African Republic
    Expanding mobile connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Supplying durable medical equipment to treat COVID-19 patients in Africa
    Helping health clinics and medical equipment manufacturers in Africa respond to COVID-19
    Preventing blindness in Cameroon
    Preserving the livelihoods of rural farmers confronting COVID-19
    Adding 86 MW of power in Senegal
    Supporting humanitarian work in Africa and the Middle East
    Building a biomass power plant in Côte d’Ivoire
    Bringing electricity to Chad
    Introducing mobile technology to support healthcare and pandemic response in South Africa
    Financing critical infrastructure development in Africa
    Improving cargo shipping logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Bolstering Gabon’s critical infrastructure
    Bringing affordable healthcare to Angola
    Empowering Uganda’s subsistence farmers
    Helping a small food producer in Botswana expand production
    Creating jobs in Namibia’s agriculture sector
    Supporting loans to female borrowers
    Introducing a major source of renewable energy in Senegal Solar mini-grids
DFC participated in an equity investment in Husk Power Systems (Husk), alongside a consortium of investors, to help address this gap in low-carbon modern energy. With equity funding from DFC and additional debt, Husk plans to roll out 1,400 new mini-grids in India and Nigeria over the next five years. These mini-grids are projected to add 300,000 new connections—100,000, or one-third, of them micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)—while avoiding 350,000 tonnes of CO2. Husk will also continue to create new jobs, adding 2,500 positions as the company expands into new markets in Africa and Asia.
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    Ophthalmologist examining a patient's eyes
A DFC equity investment of up to $10 million in AfricInvest’s Transform Health Fund will support investments in Africa’s healthcare services and health supply chain sectors, increasing healthcare access for low-income populations.
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    Woman standing in pyrethrum field
A DFC loan is helping Kentegra, a Kenyan and U.S. biotechnology company, build a new pyrethrum processing facility in Nakuru County, Kenya, to meet growing demand.
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    Housing units financed by CRRH
A DFC Euro-denominated loan guaranty supported a cross-border bond transaction to generate funds for mortgage lending to low- and middle-income families and individuals in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
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    Supporting the world’s smallest farmers
DFC financing is helping One Acre Fund support smallholder farmers in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, many of whom live in difficult-to-reach remote areas. One Acre employs more than 8,000 local workers to provide seed and fertilizer on credit, together with training on best practices for growing and storing food.
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    Hands holding water
DFC committed an up to $10 million equity investment to Water Access Acceleration Fund to expand access to affordable and safe drinking water by investing in social enterprises that are providing potable water solutions in low and lower-middle income countries in Asia and Africa.
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    SA Taxi minibuses undergoing maintenance
DFC loans are helping SA Taxi Impact Fund expand lending to black-owned and -led SMEs that operate minibus taxis across South Africa. These small buses provide affordable door-to-door transportation along fixed routes. SA Taxi’s business model integrates services such as repairs and refurbishments, insurance, and data analytics to help bolster the success of its borrowers.
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    Copia sales agent with customer
DFC has invested $10 million in equity in Copia Global, Inc., a nine-year-old e-commerce startup, to help it expand its online retail model with an emphasis on reaching the mass market consumer in Africa. DFC’s equity investment helped mobilize over $40 million of additional third-party capital to support Copia’s growth.
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    Data center wires
DFC provided financing to Africa Data Centres Holdings Limited to support the development, expansion, and operation of seven data centers in South Africa, Kenya, and other DFC-eligible countries. This $300 million direct loan will unlock approximately 31.3 MW of IT load capacity in the next three years. The project is also expected to create over 100 direct formal jobs associated with developing the data centers.
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    Aerial shot of the Golomoti solar plant
DFC financing is supporting a 20 MW solar photovoltaic power plant and battery energy storage system developed by Golomoti JCM Solar Corporation Limited. As the first utility-scale plant in the region to use a battery storage system, the project is generating energy to the national grid for use by homes and businesses. Its capacity to store up to 10MW of energy will help reduce the country’s frequent blackouts.
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    woman in red and orange outfit smiling
A DFC loan of $10 million provided first loss capital to the Impact Investment Exchange Women’s Catalyst Fund to help launch Women’s Livelihood BondTM 5: the world’s first Orange Bond.
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    Two Jibu employees smiling in front of a van
DFC financing supports the expansion of Jibu, an award-winning business that helps local entrepreneurs establish franchises selling packaged drinking water. Jibu provides access to drinking water to underserved African communities in Rwanda and Uganda, as well as other markets across the continent. Jibu currently operates in seven African countries with over 195 franchises.
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    Power lines at sunset
DFC has committed to provide financing to support the development of an 83.5 MW combined cycle thermal power plant, which will initially be fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) before converting to liquefied natural gas (LNG), a cleaner and more energy-efficient fuel.
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    Zambian woman holding baby and green peppersPhoto Credit: Yemba Chilambwe for USAID SUN TA
DFC political risk insurance is supporting DAI Global in a USAID-funded initiative with the Government of Zambia to reduce stunting by expanding access to nutrition, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). The program trains farmers to establish community gardens and improve production of vegetables and legumes, while forming nutrition-focused support groups for mothers of young children. It has also trained hundreds of government staff and volunteers to roll out WASH activities, including the construction of latrines and handwashing stations in 111 villages.
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    Woman smiling and holding basket
A loan to Lendable Inc. is supporting the creation of the Lendable Fintech Credit Fund I, which will provide loans to fin-tech companies across Africa and Asia. These fin-tech companies will use innovative technologies such as digital banks and mobile investment accounts to provide credit, working capital, remittances, and payment solutions to underserved customers and MSMEs in target countries.
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    Woman holding a cup of water
DFC financing is helping WaterEquity, a nonprofit impact investor, provide loans to microfinance lenders to help communities in Asia, Latin America, and Africa invest in water and sanitation solutions. By mobilizing significant private investment, WaterEquity has financed more than 543,000 loans that have helped nearly three million people across nine developing countries access safe water or sanitation in their homes and communities by installing toilets, septic tanks, or connections to piped water. DFC’s financing will support additional lending through 2026 aiming to bring access to water or sanitation solutions to millions more low-income families around the world.
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    Worker in cold storage warehouse
A DFC technical assistance grant is helping Ifria Cold Chain Development Co. conduct early-stage work on the development of two cold chain anchor warehouses in Agadir, Morocco and Dakar, Senegal.
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    Interior view of a dialysis centerPhoto Credit: Africa Healthcare Network
A DFC loan is supporting the expansion of Africa Healthcare Network, the first dialysis chain in Sub-Saharan Africa focused on expanding access to affordable and quality care. Africa Healthcare Network will use the loan to improve dialysis care in existing hospitals in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, while establishing clinics to screen for kidney disease as well as registries for patients who are at risk.
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    Two Nigerien men inspecting crops
A DFC loan guarantee will help Orabank Niger, the country’s eighth-largest bank, increase lending to SMEs in the agriculture, livestock, and food value chain sectors, which currently account for just one percent of the bank’s portfolio. The guarantee will also help the bank address demand for Islamic finance and deploy more digital financial services for remote farmers.
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    Customers using solar systems in a shop
DFC financing is supporting the Energy Access Relief Fund, which is providing low-cost loans to viable off-grid energy providers that serve low-income communities across 50 countries in Africa and Asia but are facing liquidity challenges due to COVID. Energy Access Relief Fund is a collaboration of development institutions, donors, and impact investors including the Dutch development agency FMO, the U.K. development agency CDC Group, as well as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Shell Foundation. The fund plans to deploy up to $100 million of financing to small and medium businesses providing a variety of off-grid energy solutions including solar home systems, clean cookstoves, and solar-powered irrigation.
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    Women members of the International Bank of Liberia's senior management team
DFC financing is helping Liberia’s oldest bank, International Bank of Liberia Ltd., increase lending to its growing base of SME clients. DFC’s commitment of $20 million in financing extends an existing partnership with the bank, which previously used $20 million in financing from DFC’s predecessor, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to provide loans ranging from $500,000 to $3 million with tenors of up to three years to a group of SME borrowers in key industries including food value chains, logistics, and manufacturing.
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    Ampersand motorcycles
A $9 million DFC loan helped Ampersand, a young company headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, build a fleet of electronic motorbikes in Rwanda and expand into Kenya to provide sustainable replacements to gas-powered motorcycle taxis.
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    Doctor holding a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine
DFC is providing a $3.3 million technical assistant grant to Fondation Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) to support development of a vaccine production hub that will serve Senegal and the other countries of West Africa. The project, which will also receive support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the French development agency, AFD, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), will help address one of the greatest challenges of the pandemic by expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent that has the lowest vaccination rate in the world.
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    Electric bus driving in Dakar, Senegal
DFC financing to the Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund is supporting the Dakar Bus Rapid Transit project to expand mass transit in and around the city. The project will introduce more than 140 electric buses and construct new roads and garages for the fleet.
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    Ugandan woman on the street
DFC is providing financing to the SEAF COVID-19 Global Gender Lens Emergency Loan Finance LLC, which is managed by the global private equity impact firm SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Funds). The facility is supporting Financial Access Commerce and Trade Services (FACTS), a company that specializes in providing short-term working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, agribusinesses, and emerging entrepreneurs in Kenya and Uganda.
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    construction workers building wind turbinesPhoto Credit: Kipeto Energy Plc
DFC provided financing and reinsurance to support construction of the 100 MW Kipeto Wind Power Project, along with a 15-mile transmission line to connect to the national grid. The 100 MW plant, which began operations in January 2021, is the second-largest wind power project in Kenya and has the capacity to supply power to approximately 250,000 households, based on current energy use for typical families. Located in the Rift Valley about 70 miles south of Nairobi, the project is also situated to feed into Nairobi’s industrial hubs.
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    woman from Lebanon woodworking
A $20 million loan to Kiva Refugee Investment Fund LLC will support microfinance lending to refugees, internally displaced persons, and impacted host populations in 13 countries.
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    solar panel on roofPhoto Credit: SunFunder
DFC provided financing and political risk insurance to SunFunder’s Solar Energy Transformation Fund, which will be supporting a loan to finance the modernization and conversion of diesel-fueled telecommunications towers across the Central African Republic to run on solar power.
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    photo, man on telecom tower
$100 million in financing is helping Africell expand affordable mobile voice and data services in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and upgrade its network equipment to accommodate increased traffic. The World Bank estimates that a 10 percent increase in mobile phone technology coverage in developing countries will increase annual economic growth by 1.2 percent, and that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration results in a 1.4 percent increase in annual economic growth in low and middle-income countries.
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    African doctor with stethoscope, checking child patient
Financing through a Citi framework agreement is helping New York-based Gradian Health Systems, Inc. design, distribute and maintain medical equipment made for low-resource environments in Benin, Kenya, Nigeria,  Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Gradian makes mechanical ventilators and anesthesia machines that are specifically designed for safe and effective use in challenging settings that have limited access to electricity and medical oxygen. The equipment is built with long-duration battery power, and designed to be easy-to-operate and to function in high-heat, humidity, or dust environments. Gradian also provides training on operating the equipment.
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    photo, man in pharmacy looking at medication
Financing to Medical Credit Fund is providing loans to clinics in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, so that they can provide a higher level of care to a greater number of patients.
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    Preventing blindness in Cameroon
A $2 million loan is helping the Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute provide affordable surgery to thousands of patients. The financing to this project was structured as a Development Impact Bond (DIB), a pay-for-performance loan in which lenders earn higher returns when the hospital reaches more patients. During the project’s first year, the financing helped the hospital screen more than 50,000 patients and complete more than 2,300 cataract surgeries. Low income patients received the sight-saving surgery for free or at a subsidized rate, and the quality of surgeries exceeded World Health Organization standards with nearly 70 percent of surgeries achieving a good visual outcome on the day after surgery.
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    photo, woman smiling and checking on crops
A DFC loan guaranty facility is helping Root Capital sustain livelihoods of more than one million farmers—more than half of them women—in 21 countries in Africa and Latin America.
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    Adding 86 MW of power in Senegal
Financing and political risk insurance supported ContourGlobal’s construction of the 86 MW Cap des Biches thermal power plant outside of Dakar, increasing the country’s energy supply. The combined-cycle plant was designed to run on heavy fuel oil or natural gas, when supply is available, and was built on the site of an existing diesel power plant in order to achieve cost efficiencies. Under the terms of the project, the country’s state-owned utility Senelec, entered a power purchase agreement with ContourGlobal.
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    Supporting humanitarian work in Africa and the Middle East
Political risk insurance supports the work of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a relief agency that responds to humanitarian crises around the world. By protecting against losses resulting from forced abandonment or expropriation, this insurance enables IRC to support displaced people, provide emergency health and sanitation services, stem gender-based violence, and respond to disease outbreaks. IRC is working to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in regions with limited access to healthcare, by introducing telemedicine to provide healthcare remotely, delivering medicine to communities in quarantine, and educating people about disease prevention. DFC’s insurance supports this work in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East including Georgia, Iraq, Niger, and Zimbabwe.
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    men harvesting palm tree leaves
Political risk insurance is supporting a project to build, finance, operate, and maintain for 25 years a 46 MW biomass power plant along with a substation and a 350-meter transmission line connecting to the electricity grid. The plant, which will generate power from palm tree leaves and trunks, will be the country’s first large scale biomass plant feeding into the grid and the largest power plant fueled by agricultural waste in West Africa.
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    Bringing electricity to Chad
A $10 million loan will help FinLux Ellen Sarl distribute solar kits and appliances to individuals, schools, health clinics and small businesses in Chad, providing a reliable source of power to communities not connected to an electricity grid. FinLux solar equipment is based on a battery produced in the United States, and adapted for use in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Because women comprise more than half the company’s workforce, the project also promotes women’s economic empowerment.
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    Introducing mobile technology to improve health services in Guatemala and Tanzania
Financing is helping Dimagi Inc., a small technology business based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, support healthcare workers in South Africa with its open source mobile data management platform that facilitates data intake, patient monitoring, and COVID-19 contact tracing. The company’s technology allows healthcare workers to input data on individual patients, track their symptoms and healthcare visits and flag any areas of concern.
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    Financing critical infrastructure development in Africa
DFC is providing $50 million of debt financing to the Meridiam Africa Infrastructure Fund, which is investing in a variety of infrastructure projects. Meridiam’s investments include solar energy projects in Senegal and a geothermal project in Ethiopia, helping those countries grow and diversify their energy supply; a university hospital in Cote d’Ivoire to expand access to healthcare, an airport renovation in Madagascar to support the country’s tourism industry, and port development projects in Gabon and Mauritania to support trade.
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    Improving cargo shipping logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa
Financing is helping Alistair Group, a small business based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, introduce a more efficient system for moving cargo. Alistair operates a fleet of hundreds of trucks that serve mining, oil and gas companies, as well as global relief organizations throughout Tanzania, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and South Africa. Alistair equips its trucks with GPS tracking, trains drivers extensively on safety and accident prevention, and maintains a zero-tolerance policy to bribery and corruption that often poses a hurdle to moving goods across borders. In addition to improving the quality and reliability of ground transportation across the region, the project has created hundreds of local jobs, while helping local businesses and relief organizations transport cargo.
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    Bolstering Gabon’s critical infrastructure
Political risk insurance is supporting construction of a mineral and specialized bulk terminal port, which will advance economic growth by increasing the country’s ability to import and export goods. DFC is providing reinsurance to Chubb European Group SE, which is insuring Meridiam Africa Infrastructure Investments, which owns a 25 percent stake in the project.
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    Bringing affordable healthcare to Angola
Financing supported construction of the Luanda Medical Center, a private medical clinic in the country’s capital. The clinic delivers affordable and quality health services to people of all ages and income levels. By hiring highly qualified professionals and investing in X-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI technologies, the medical center has dramatically increased diagnostic capabilities in Luanda. Today the medical center provides diagnostic services, screening, preventive care, maternal care and chronic disease treatment to thousands of patients every month.
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    Empowering Uganda’s subsistence farmers
A loan guaranty enabled Edward Munaaba to borrow $10,500 from a local bank in the Jinja district to install solar panels in his nine-acre community farm, introducing electricity to the village for the first time ever. The addition of electricity has supported cold storage, submersible solar pumps for irrigation, and training for farmers in the community.
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    fresh bread on cooling racks
Partnering with USAID, DFC structured a 50 percent loan portfolio credit guarantee with Botswana’s Absa Bank Botswana, which enabled Absa to lend to Arona Natural Foods, a small local bread producer with fewer than 10 employees.
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    Creating jobs in Namibia’s agriculture sector
Political risk insurance is supporting SilverStreet Private Equity’s investment in two vineyards that grow table grapes in Aussenkehr, a fertile region of the country that borders on South Africa. Water from the Orange River is used to irrigate the vineyards and the optimal conditions mean the grapes mature rapidly.
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    Supporting loans to female borrowers
A $10 million loan has helped Kiva Microfunds support almost 100,000 microloans to developing country borrowers across 30 countries. With women comprising more than three quarters of borrowers, the project advances DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative to support projects that economically empower women.
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    wind turbine in SenegalPhoto Credit: Lekela
Financing and political risk insurance supported construction of a 158 MW power plant about 50 miles northeast of Dakar. The Taiba N’Diaye plant, the largest wind power plant in West Africa, began operations in February 2020, generating about 15 percent of Senegal’s total installed generating capacity and helping about two million people gain access to power for the first time.
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