MARKET DEVELOPMENT

• Strengthen local economy in LDCs: BOAD operates in eight countries in West Africa1, seven of which are classified as LDCs. The Facility will support SMEs, as well as the agribusiness sector, both important contributors to the local economy.
• Contributing to formal local employment: BOAD’s objective is to support the creation of 245,000 jobs by 2025, of which at least 53,000 would be in the private sector or through SME on‑lending. BOAD provides guidance to many of its clients on formalizing employment in their workforce, decreasing risks associated with informal employment.

GENDER EQUALITY

• Improving employment for women: The Bank has a Gender Action Plan that defines its priorities to strengthen gender equality and diversity, and its representation of women at different levels of the organization (33% of senior management and 37% of employees in 2021) through improved recruitment, retention and career progression practices.
• Supporting women entrepreneurs: BOAD committed to channel at least 30% of FinDev Canada’s loan to women‑owned or led businesses. BOAD will implement a gender‑disaggregated data tracking system, as well as methods to better serve its women clients through the offering of financial and non‑financial products catered to this segment

CLIMATE ACTION

• Sustainable practices within operations: BOAD has an Environmental and Climate Strategy, with KPIs to reduce its office consumption of water, electricity, fuel and waste production. The Bank has decreased its operational carbon footprint by using solar power generation to provide a portion of the energy used at its head office in Togo.
• Reduction of GHG emissions: BOAD supports renewable energy projects and climate‑smart agriculture with a projected reduction of 18 million tons of CO2 emissions by 2025.
• Supporting client’s climate change resilience: The Bank is integrating climate change resilience measures in its activities, including piloting crop insurance offerings to agribusiness clients in several countries of operations.