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Support to the private sector - Our work and impact
As part of our role as a public body, our agency primarily focuses on strengthening the public sector in our partner countries. However, to foster economic and human development, supporting the private sector is equally essential.
As France’s public agency for international development cooperation, we implement projects aimed at developing a strong and dynamic private sector, capable of driving both economic growth and job creation. Strengthening the private sector and fostering public-private partnerships also helps build a positive synergy that benefits society as a whole.
3% of the GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa invested in infrastructure by the private sector
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by the end of the decade, the private sector could provide additional annual funding for infrastructure equivalent to 3% of the GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the African private sector remains at a limited stage of development. According to the African Development Bank, domestic private investment in Africa averaged 14.8% of GDP between 2000 and 2023, compared with around 35% in East Asia and the Pacific. Limited access to finance, underdeveloped capital markets, and business-environment and regulatory risks continue to constrain private investment.
Our strategic priorities
Support to the private sector is a cross-cutting theme within our agency and applies to a wide range of our focus areas, especially entrepreneurship and trade. Our work centres on the following areas:
- Supporting entrepreneurship: Strengthen and structure entrepreneurship ecosystems while fostering the emergence of a favourable environment for entrepreneurship
- Improving the business environment: Promote women’s economic empowerment, develop one-stop shops, digitalise administrative procedures, and support investment promotion agencies
- Enhancing our partners’ trade capacity: Develop trade and exports, and support inclusive and sustainable economic zones, export promotion agencies and the industrialisation strategies of our partner countries
- Promoting economic and regional integration: support trade agreements and inclusive and sustainable corridors.
“Public-private partnerships foster innovation by building on the interests and priorities of both sectors: they are complementary. The private sector brings funding and expertise, while the public sector provides the regulatory framework and helps develop national partnerships. It is essential to bring together start-ups, universities, and research institutions to work towards more ethical and stable AI.”
- Member of the OECD AI Policy Observatory and Head of Partnerships at the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Our framework for action
Our agency is committed to tackling inequalities and promoting economic and social development. We do so through our support to the private sector as outlined in our Contract of Objectives and Means, an agreement between Expertise France and the French government regarding our budget and strategic priorities for the coming years. This contract states that our work must “primarily aim to reduce multidimensional inequalities, including gender inequalities, improve well-being and access to essential goods and services, foster social and economic inclusion, and strengthen the private sector for economic and social development.”
Our work also aligns with French, European and international priorities, such as the Global Gateway initiative of the European Commission, and the objectives set by France’s Presidential Council for International Partnerships (CPPI). Finally, we contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9, which calls for “building resilient infrastructures, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and fostering innovation.”
For further reading
Our services in this area
Our services to the private sector are based on co-creation with our partners. They include technical assistance, the deployment of experts, and support to local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems – particularly in the digital sector.
We support the green transition of the private sector and the incorporation of gender considerations into entrepreneurship projects, as well as skills development within private sector businesses in the digital, technical and financial sectors, among others.
Resources for download
Our projects
Technical assistance project – Choose Africa 2 Benin
Ongoing
2026 - 2029
Funders : Agence Française de Développement
Team Europe Initiative for Digital Connectivity in Central Asia (C4CA)
Ongoing
2025 - 2028
Funders : European Union
Key figures in 2025
- 228 organisations received support in helping businesses to develop and grow. These included 64 incubators and accelerators as well as 30 civil society organisations (CSOs)
- 4,127 businesses or business projects received support