By KENNEDY  MUPESENI –

A SEED equity investment worth US$400,000 has been signed between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Africlear Global to enhance the efficiency of capital markets in Africa.
The agreement was signed with Africlear under the Fund for Africa Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) to enhance efficiency in the African capital markets.
AfDB said in a statement that the goal of the investment was to enhance the efficiency of capital markets by supporting the modernisation of central securities depository infrastructure in African securities markets.
Africlear Global is a company initiated by two African central securities depositories, namely Central Depository and Settlement
Corporation (CDSC) Kenya, and Central Securities Clearing System Limited (CSCS) of Nigeria sponsored by Altree Financial Group. AfDB’s vice president for infrastructure, private sector and regional integration Solomon Asamoah and Africlear Global director Anthony Fischli signed the shareholder and subscription agreements on behalf of the respective institutions.
“The seed equity investment to Africlear Global supports the improvement of the securities market infrastructure across Africa through promotion of industry-leading technologies designed to enhance the efficiency of capital markets and to achieve better regulation, and ultimately lower the cost of investing in the debt and equity securities of African companies,” AfDB said.
FAPA is a multi-donor thematic trust fund that provided grant funding for capacity building, seed capital and advisory services to support implementation of the Bank’s Private Sector Development Strategy.
The FAPA portfolio included regional and national projects aimed at improving the business environment, strengthening financial systems,
building private sector infrastructure, promoting trade and development of the MSMEs.
The Governments of Japan and Austria, and the AfDB were active contributors to the fund, which to date had provided more than US $60million to 56 projects in 38 countries across the Africa.