Agence Côte d’Ivoire Export took part, on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd October 2026, in the national stakeholder consultation workshop dedicated to the access to finance constraints faced by food SMEs engaged in regional trade. This meeting brought together businesses, financial institutions, public administrations, and development partners to explore solutions tailored to the needs of SMEs.
The Director General of Agence Côte d’Ivoire Export, Dr Kaladji FADIGA, was represented by Mr Pierre-André AMON D’ABY, Director of Commercial Information, Economic Intelligence, and Forecasting, in the presence of Mr Mamadou SAMASSI, Special Advisor to the Director General.
Understanding constraints to better support SMEs.
Organised as part of a data collection mission led by the OECD, through the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC), in collaboration with the West African Association for Cross-Border Trade in Food, Agro-forestry-pastoral and Fisheries Products (AOCTAH), the workshop aimed to discuss the survey results and further analyse financing constraints.
The data collection, conducted between July and August 2026 among 303 food SMEs in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, covered business profiles, their integration into regional trade, their financing needs, and the difficulties encountered in accessing formal finance.
The consultation sessions facilitated discussions on the realities faced by businesses and the requirements of financial institutions, focusing on topics such as collateral, documentation, loan sizes, repayment terms, transaction costs, and the availability of reliable data.
Exploring financing mechanisms tailored to the realities of regional trade.
During the discussions, stakeholders were invited to examine solutions that could better align with the business models of agri-food SMEs and their commercial cycles.
Among the avenues explored were fast-disbursement working capital facilities, credit guarantees and other risk-sharing mechanisms, as well as buyer- or supplier-backed financing.
The consultation also addressed the institutional, regulatory, and data-related conditions required to facilitate credit allocation to SMEs operating in regional markets. The contributions gathered are intended to feed into the final analytical report by the OECD/SWAC and its public policy recommendations.
For the Agency, financing is a component of export competitiveness.
In his address, Mr AMON D’ABY reiterated that international support for businesses must take into account the concrete conditions under which commercial operations take place.
“Supporting a business for export is not merely about helping it identify a market or a buyer. We must also create the conditions that allow it to seize that opportunity. Financing is therefore an integral component of export competitiveness.”
This vision underlines the importance of financing in enabling businesses to turn a commercial prospect into actual business activity. A company may possess a competitive product and a buyer, yet remain unable to finalise the transaction if it lacks the necessary cash flow to produce, build up inventory, transport, or deliver its goods.
Through its participation in this workshop, Agence Côte d’Ivoire Export reaffirms the importance of a comprehensive approach to international support—one that connects market access with addressing the operational and financial constraints of businesses.
The consultation thus contributes to enriching collective reflection on the levers capable of supporting the growth of food SMEs and their participation in regional trade.
The Director General’s quotes are taken from the delivered speech. The texts outline the objectives and avenues explored during the workshop, without attributing final recommendations to the participants that are not featured in the documents.
