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IFC Financing to Increase Access to Essential Medical Equipment
IFC is partnering with financial institutions in Africa and medical equipment manufacturers worldwide to help small and medium-sized healthcare providers in East and West Africa secure local-currency loans to purchase or lease needed medical equipment. The Africa Medical Equipment Facility aims to improve private sector healthcare delivery by enabling hospitals, clinics, pathology labs and diagnostic imaging centers to acquire the advanced equipment that can improve the quality and reliability of care provided.
What AMEF provides:
Small- and medium-sized healthcare companies in East and West Africa often face difficulties when trying to access financing for the purchase or lease of equipment. Financing may not be available, or the terms may not be appropriate for the company. At the same time, equipment manufacturers may be unfamiliar with the market and unsure about the financing risk, limiting their ability to sell equipment in these countries.
The Africa Medical Equipment Facility is designed to bridge the gap between healthcare businesses seeking medical equipment and financial institutions and equipment manufacturers. Risk-sharing facilities, developed through partner banks, will provide healthcare businesses with necessary financing to acquire advanced equipment from manufacturers that have signed on to the facility. IFC expects the facility to provide a total of $300 million in financing. For manufacturers, the risk sharing facility offers the opportunity to improve their clients’ access to financing for needed equipment sales in what is a fragmented market.
The facility includes an advisory services program to help small healthcare businesses improve their medical equipment procurement processes, financial management and business planning. It will also help participating financial institutions to strengthen credit underwriting skills for the healthcare sector, strengthening the relationship equipment manufacturers will have with their customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I join AMEF as an OEM?
Please reach out to amef@ifc.org. The team will contact you to discuss the onboarding process.
Which countries AMEF covers?
The program currently covers Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya and is exploring additional countries. Any Program Country is operational once IFC signs an AMEF agreement with a partner bank in such country.
What type of Health SMEs are eligible for the loans?
The eligibility criteria is broad, but the focus is private sector health SMEs. This includes clinics, hospitals, medical imaging centers, laboratories and others SMEs in the space with sound financial and operational background.
What are the features of the loans?
Partner banks will provide commercial loans and leases ranging from US$5,000 to US$2 million with a tenor ranging from 3 to 7 years including a grace period of 6 months to 2 years. The funds shall serve to finance the acquisition or lease of the OEM equipment.
I don’t have direct presence in one or several of the countries AMEF covers but have a distributor on the ground.
IFC will give consideration to onboarding OEMs which operate and sell through duly authorized distributors in the Program countries. While the OEM signs up the partnership under AMEF, sales to be financed by partner banks under the Program can be generated by duly authorized distributors on the ground.
Beyond financing, how does the program support health SMEs and partner banks?
IFC will provide advisory services to eligible health SMEs and partner banks to build and strengthen their capacity and improve the risk profile of eligible health SMEs. These include advisory to health SMEs to strengthen financial management and health quality; and advisory to partner banks to strength their credit underwriting and understanding of health SMEs.
How to Partner with IFC
IFC invites interested equipment manufacturers and financial institutions to contact IFC to explore partnerships under the Africa Medical Equipment Facility. Please contact amef@ifc.org.
No information provided on this internet page shall constitute a commitment or obligation by IFC to provide risk sharing facilities to any financial institution (“FI”) in support of sales of medical equipment by any original equipment manufacturer (“OEMs”) (a “Project”). Any investment by IFC will be contingent upon: (i) the Project, any FI and any OEM meeting IFC's financing criteria; (ii) the overall financial plan being acceptable to IFC; (iii) approval of the investment by the relevant governmental entities of the country in which the Project is located, if any, and by the management and the board of IFC; and (iv) the execution of all appropriate Project, financing and other related documentation, in form and substance satisfactory to IFC. Any FI or OEM considering to participate in the African Medical Equipment Facility (“AMEF”) will be solely responsible for making its own independent appraisal and investigation of all risks arising under or in connection with the AMEF.
