AfDB, SA Taxi Seal Deal

AfDB, SA Taxi Seal Deal

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and SA Taxi Development Finance Proprietary Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SA Taxi Holdings Proprietary Limited, have signed a $100 million loan agreement to support the firm’s growing strategy to empower taxi operators with limited access to finance from traditional financiers.

The loan agreement, which carries an eight-year tenor and includes a six-month grace period, was signed on Monday, 16 March between the Bank’s Director of Infrastructure & Urban Development Amadou Oumarou, and Lorenzo Cardoso, Chief Financial Officer and Director of SA Taxi.

“The funding transaction entered into with the African Development Bank is instrumental to SA Taxi’s medium and long term strategy. The tenor and size of the transaction will contribute towards the continued success of SA Taxi to empower SMEs and create opportunities that ensure the sustainability of the minibus taxi industry,” Cardoso was quoted in a statement to have said.

“We are proud to be an internationally recognised African business.”
The financial package, comprising a senior loan of $10 million and an associated facility of ZAR 1.4 billion (about $97 million), will provide a powerful boost to industrialisation through improved urban mobility for working class South Africans.

SA Taxi is a vertically integrated minibus taxi platform utilising specialist capabilities, enriched proprietary data and technology, to provide developmental finance, insurance and other services to empower Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), thus enabling the sustainability of the minibus taxi industry.

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