Invest Salone

📈 Invest Salone has supported 45 Sierra Leonean businesses to become more productive and competitive. Invest Salone partners directly with businesses to address internal management constraints and external barriers in the market sector, to improve firms' investment and export readiness, productivity and competitiveness. Find out more in our latest Overview Infographic 👉 https://bit.ly/3OOfabI

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The closure of Sierra Leone’s first local currency corporate bond, which aims to diversify the domestic capital market and attract investors, is a landmark achievement and represents an exciting alternative to bank loans, particularly for companies that need longer-term resources. "An added benefit of raising finance through local currency bonds is that they limit the exposure of Sierra Leonean businesses to exchange rate risk. Given that most international financing is usually in dollars, pounds, or euros, local companies that earn in leones and borrow in foreign currencies traditionally had to bear the currency risk. This increases the cost of servicing the debt if the local currency depreciates vis-à-vis the foreign currency. The bond that has been structured for LAPO Microfinance is in local currency, eliminating that risk altogether." – Christina Clark-Lowes, Invest Salone Read more in our latest news 👉 https://bit.ly/3Vw7Zqo

🤝 Invest Salone has supported impact investors to unlock +£19m in investment for Sierra Leonean businesses! Invest Salone works with investors who are interested in investing in key sectors, such as agriculture, tourism, textiles and manufacturing, to help them identify and support investible businesses and potential export partners. Find out more in our latest Overview Infographic 👉 https://bit.ly/3OOfabI

✨ Sierra Leone’s fashion and textiles sector has dominated its social scene this year, and in the process is showing itself as an increasingly powerful tool for economic empowerment. Many designers are implementing a contemporary take on traditional partisanship – reviving heritage skills, techniques and materials and building on Sierra Leone’s cultural legacy to create a unique and distinctive ‘made in Salone’ style. In the process, the fashion industry’s potential to drive positive change through job creation, cultural conservation and skills transfer is moving rapidly up our policy agenda. Watch the video to find out more 📺 Or read more here 👉 https://bit.ly/4eODmVU

🐔 What opportunities exist for Sierra Leone's poultry feed sector? The #SierraLeone poultry industry is positioned to grow rapidly over the next decade and exciting opportunities exist to avoid the costly mistakes made in other regions by adopting industry best practices now, while the industry is still in its infancy. This report outlines the challenges and opportunities the sector faces 👉 https://bit.ly/49d0NVQ

👚 The fashion and textiles sector is estimated to be worth US$2.5 trillion globally and employs more than 75 million workers, most of whom are female. 📈 The market in sub-Saharan Africa is worth US$31 billion but is predicted to grow 4–5% annually by 2027 as demand for African fashion and textiles increase. Find out what opportunities exist and how Invest Salone is working with businesses to improve the investment environment: https://bit.ly/3KFeaDF

Invest Salone is a flexible, innovative initiative which supports business growth, investment and investment climate reform. View all of our latest results in our updated Overview Infographic, and find out more about what we do: https://bit.ly/3OOfabI

“Access to finance remains a critical constraint to private sector growth in Sierra Leone. Yet many financial institutions are undercapitalised and struggle to extend loans to growth-oriented customers, so many local businesses resort to bank overdrafts as the only option to satisfy their financing needs. In this context, corporate bonds represent an exciting alternative to bank loans, particularly for companies that need longer-term resources.” – Christina Clark-Lowes, Invest Salone’s Investment Lead. #ICYMI, Sierra Leone’s nascent capital market achieved a significant milestone on 12 June 2024 with the successful closure of the country’s first local currency corporate bond, approved by the Bank of Sierra Leone. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Vw7Zqo ALCB Fund Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office United Capital Plc LAPO Microfinance PENNARTH GREENE CAPITAL LIMITED TCX Bank of Sierra Leone

❔ How is Invest Salone working with the fashion and textiles industry to address sector-wide constraints to growth and competitiveness and encourage investment? Download our latest infographic to find out 👉 https://bit.ly/3KFeaDF