<\/p>\n
The Private Sector Development and Entrepreneurship Enhancement Project will focus particularly on businesses led by women and young people.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Libya\u2019s National Economic and Social Development Board will implement the Project in partnership with Expertise France.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The financing will come from the AfDB’s Middle-Income Country Technical Assistance Fund.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Project will train 200 entrepreneurs in financial literacy, business planning, project management, pricing and marketing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Women will represent 40% of participants, while young people will account for 50%. \u201cEntrepreneurs need practical business skills, financial services that respond to their needs and institutions that support their growth,\u201d AfDB Deputy Director-General for North Africa and Country Manager for Libya Malinne Blomberg said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Project aims to expand opportunities for women and young people to build viable businesses and contribute to a more diversified economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Project will also train 50 banking professionals in Islamic finance and lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At least four financial institutions and business-support providers will participate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The initiative will support the development of innovative microfinance products designed for women and young entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The AfDB said the Project would help Libya diversify the economy beyond oil and gas while expanding employment and business opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The intervention will address limited financing, gaps in business skills, fragmented support services and weak coordination among institutions assisting enterprises.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Libya\u2019s Private Sector Development Roadmap and Action Plan will also be updated and validated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At least five national institutions will receive assistance to improve monitoring and reporting and integrate women and young people into programmes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Libya Credit Information Centre will receive employee training and system upgrades to improve the quality and availability of information used when financial institutions assess loan applications.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Climate-smart business practices, resource efficiency and green entrepreneurship will be included in training programmes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Financial institutions will also receive support to incorporate climate considerations into lending decisions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–AfDB\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":48797,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-49247","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $1 million grant to improve access to finance and business support for entrepreneurs in Libya.","published_date":"","news_description":"The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $1 million grant to improve access to finance and business support for entrepreneurs in Libya.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49249,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49247\/revisions\/49249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}