The $24 million African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded Institutional Capacity Building Project for Private Sector Development project in Angola, which ran from 2014 to 2023, has delivered exceptional results that have exceeded expectations, the AfDB said.
Angola’s non-oil export growth rate was 5.9% in December 2022 and 4.9% in June 2023, exceeding the 2.8% target set for 2018 and the revised 5% target set for 2020, the bank said.
The AfDB added that the initiative triggered an increase in business start-ups, soaring from 2,700 in 2012 to 38,715 in 2022.
A the same time, the number of cooperatives with access to services increased significantly from 240 to 12,870, according to the bank. Moreover, the project significantly impacted the agriculture sector, with 23,776 farmers, including 3,148 women, involved in coffee production.
"This progress is thanks to Project initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and was achieved despite the Angolan economy entering recession and despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a significant reduction in the number of start-ups in 2020," the bank report stated.
Additionally, the initiative reinforced efforts under the Support for Production, Export Diversification, and Import Substitution (PRODESI) program, the bank revealed.
Under PRODESI, 3,034 agro-entrepreneurs and managers of agricultural cooperative from all 18 provinces received specialized training, enhancing Angola's capacity for sustainable economic growth, according to the AfDB.