April 20, 2017: Emerging Capital Partner’s Co-CEO and Eranove Chairman Vincent Le Guennou shared his insights on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) flagship panel event “Creating Markets, Creating Opportunities” during the 2017 World Bank Spring Meetings. Highlighting ECP’s investment in Eranove, a leading public service manager and utilities provider in West and Central Africa, Mr. Le Guennou spoke about how Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and private sector investment firms can contribute to the demand for finance capital across emerging markets while working to remediate development challenges.
Mr. Le Guennou explained how IFC’s involvement in Côte d’Ivoire’s power and utilities industry facilitated the implementation of an institutional framework with regulatory bodies and laws and transparency in a sector where efficient management of cash through the system is key. In the case of CIE (Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité), a leading electricity transmission and distribution company in Côte d’Ivoire, a prioritized payment plan system contributed to the sector’s attractiveness to private sector investment. CIPREL (Compagnie Ivoirienne de Production d’Electricité), another Eranove subsidiary and the leading gas-to-electricity producer in Côte d’Ivoire, has secured its fourth expansion financed by the IFC and other private investors. Broadly, Eranove is an example to neighboring countries of how DFIs and private investment firms can collaborate to strengthen emerging market economies.
Attending the event were World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and IFC Executive Vice President and CEO Phillipe Le Houérou, both of whom stressed the need for governments, private sector firms, and DFIs to work together to de-risk emerging market economies and stimulate economic growth and job creation. Other invited panelists included Imad Fakhoury, Minister of Planning & International Cooperation for Jordan, Tara Lindstedt, Managing Director at EPG Energy, Dimitris Tsitsiragos, Vice President and New Business at IFC, and Chris Wood, CEO at West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC).
To access the live recording of the event for free, please see “World Bank Live: Creating Markets, Creating Opportunities.”
