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Linkages Africa: Edition #5: 21 June 2007RURAL AFRICAN BUSINESSES TO BENEFIT FROM NEW UN FUND

13 June 2007: During the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Cape Town, South Africa, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development launched a new fund designed to help Africa’s rural poor by providing grants to innovative new businesses. The African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) will offer matching grants of up to US$1.5 million each to projects which meet its development goals. The AECF, which will run for seven years starting in 2008, already has most of the money it needs to start operations. Donors include IFAD, the African Development Bank, the Consultative Group for Assist the Poor, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Source: IFAD <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22896&Cr=IFAD&Cr1>