Emerging Capital Partners

Oragroup SA is a banking institution that provides personal and business banking services across West and Central Africa. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Lomé, Togo, the company operates under the Orabank brand and has a network of 149 branches in 12 countries, including Benin, Gabon, Guinea, Mauritania, and Togo, among others. Its product offerings encompass savings and term deposit accounts, various types of loans, money transfer services, foreign currency exchange, and digital banking solutions. Additionally, Oragroup SA engages in bancassurance and offers insurance products, catering to a diverse clientele throughout the region. The company operates as a subsidiary of ECP Financial Holding LLC.

Bank of Africa, founded in Mali in 1982, has grown into a prominent banking group operating in 17 countries across Africa and one in France. The group comprises a network of 15 commercial banks, along with various financial institutions, including a financial corporation, a housing bank, a leasing company, a brokerage firm, two investment companies, and an asset management company. It provides a range of banking services, such as savings and current accounts, loans, insurance, and currency transfers, through branches and subsidiaries in West and East Africa, including countries like Ghana, Mali, Kenya, and Madagascar. Since 2010, Bank of Africa has been majority-owned by BMCE Bank, the second largest private bank in Morocco, which offers significant strategic and operational support, enhancing its access to international markets.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), a public limited liability company under a private sector initiative spearheaded by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the early 1980’s foreign and state-owned banks dominated the banking industry in West Africa. Commercial banks in West Africa owned and managed by the African private sector were a rarity. Its founders created ETI with the objective of filling this vacuum. The Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce promoted and initiated a project to create a private, regional banking institution in West Africa. In 1984, Ecopromotions S.A. was incorporated. Its founding shareholders raised seed capital for feasibility studies and the promotional activities leading to the creation of ETI. In October 1985, ETI was incorporated with authorised capital of US$100 million. The initial paid up capital of US$32 million was raised from over 1,500 individuals and institutions from West African countries. The largest shareholder was the ECOWAS Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund), the development finance arm of ECOWAS. Ecobank signed a Headquarters’ Agreement with the Government of Togo in 1985, which granted it the status of an international organisation. This status came with the rights and privileges necessary for ETI to operate as a regional institution, including the status of a non-resident financial institution. ETI commenced operations with its first subsidiary in Togo in March 1988.