Liberian Small Businesses Face US$1 Billion Annual Financing Gap, AfDB Consultant Says

Published: October 28, 2026

MONROVIA — Liberia’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses face a financing shortfall of US$1.03 billion a year, African Development Bank consultant James Francis Davis said at the seventh Prosperity Africa Conference in Monrovia, urging commercial banks to work with guarantee funds to bring down the high interest rates and collateral demands he said are crippling them.

Davis, a senior international consultant for the AfDB, said small businesses account for more than 80% of employment in Africa but remain chronically underfinanced, with a continentwide shortfall of more than US$209 billion.

Money alone will not close the gap, he said. Citing current AfDB thinking, Davis said “access to finance is important, but finance alone has not enabled businesses to scale,” and called for a full support system that pairs financing with credit guarantees, technical assistance, market access and mentorship.

He urged commercial banks to partner with guarantee funds to ease high interest rates, heavy collateral requirements and short repayment periods.

Davis tied small-business financing to the African Continental Free Trade Area, saying stronger regional value chains should allow one country to supply raw materials, another to process them and a third to provide logistics and finance. He named agriculture, light manufacturing, logistics, technology and tourism as Liberia’s most promising sectors.

He pointed to the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank Management Company, a joint AfDB and government initiative targeting 30,000 youth-led businesses, and said its model of training and incubating businesses before financing them is the right way to avoid the failures of grant-based programs.

Referring to investment priorities discussed at the Brussels Investment Forum in February, Davis said roads should be treated as economic corridors and called for closer coordination among government, chambers of commerce and development partners so that investment produces jobs.

He commended the Liberia Chamber of Commerce for pressing for more opportunities for local businesses.

The conference brought together policymakers, chambers of commerce, development partners and private-sector representatives under the theme “MSME Financing at the Africa Prosperity Conference for Sustainable Development: Policy Reforms, Innovation, and Opportunities.”