The SME sector in Zimbabwe remains deprived from adequate access to finance, and FMO contributed to the development of the sector by providing a senior MASSIF loan to our existing client African Century Leasing (ACL).
The overall mission of ACL is to assist in the revival of the Zimbabwean economy through the provision of world class lease finance and to create opportunities for SMEs to grow their business more cost-effectively with reduced capital outlay. ACL provides financial lease, primarily for productive equipment (machinery) and moveable assets (vehicles).
The 4 year loan to ACL is a MASSIF loan, US$5 mln and it is a second tranche of funding that the company received from FMO. In 2013 ACL already accessed a US$8 mln loan from FMO. As a first senior lender to ACL, the company has always seen FMO as instrumental in supporting the business when it was still at a green-field stage of development. Even more so, the company considers FMO to have paved the way for other lenders to get comfortable with ACL and to attain a broader funding base.
Stanley Matiza, ACL Managing Director states “ACL has successfully engaged several other funders and we expect to conclude at least three more credit lines by year end”.
