An agreement to partner on a new joint initiative to support first time entrepreneurs, and in particular young people and women, was signed today in Washington DC by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG).

Roman Escolano, Vice President of the EIB, and Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, signed a Letter of Intent to develop and support the Boost MENA initiative at the margins of the 2016 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings.

This agreement reaffirms the WBG and EIB’s long-term partnership in the Mediterranean region. 

The objective of Boost MENA is to set up a new investment facility for countries in the Middle East and North Africa that combines financing for innovative start-ups and early-stage growth companies backed by significant technical assistance.

It will also contribute to the international response to the refugee crisis. Boost MENA is the first initiative of its kind to provide financial support for innovation and entrepreneurship to promote job creation on an unprecedented scale across the region. In particular, the initiative’s integrated approach will target support to the earliest and riskiest stages of entrepreneurship. The project design will provide long-term support to programmes targeting entrepreneurs, such as business accelerators/incubators, seed funds, business angel networks, equity-crowd platforms, social impact funds and venture capital funds