Britain to provide £20 million to AECF

THE UK has recently become one of the first donors to get behind a new fund which will support businesses to help people in Africa become economically active. former leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Amos, announced that the UK will provide £20 million over three years to the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF). The AECF will provide match-funding for business innovations that improve the economic prospects of the most excluded in Africa, as employees, entrepreneurs or consumers. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, Baroness Amos said.

"Business development is essential in the fight against poverty. Last week the G8 reaffirmed the importance of this in stimulating economic growth in developing countries and encouraged businesses to improve the level of sustainable investment in those countries.

"The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund will help to deliver this. It encourages innovation in trade and commerce to help those who are most excluded enter the world of business. The Fund will become operational in 2008 and I hope that businesses will see its potential and use it to stimulate growth."

Other donors who have already committed to support the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund include the African Development Bank, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

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