Mozambique: ENH, BCI ink MoU

The National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) and Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Maputo on Thursday, 29 October, to establish and manage a credit line to support Mozambican micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing businesses in the hydrocarbons sector.

The memorandum was signed on behalf of ENH by its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Rudêncio Morais, and its Administrator for Administration and Finance, Alegria Cossa; while BCI was represented by its Executive Committee Chairman, José Furtado, and Administrator Raúl Almeida.

The MoU establishes the general conditions for implementing the Credit Line, as well as the mutual obligations and rights of the parties, particularly with regard to the provision of information listing potential companies and/or suppliers that will constitute the target beneficiaries of the Credit Line; the management of the Credit Line by BCI; and the subsequent allocation of loans to beneficiaries.

Speaking at the event, ENH’s Chairman of the Board of Directors said that the MoU forms part of the company’s commitment to Local Content: opening more doors for Mozambican companies, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to supply goods and services to hydrocarbons projects, generate more jobs and ensure that the wealth generated by these projects remains in the country.

“The main barriers faced by Mozambican MSMEs in providing services to the industry are limited technical capacity, international certification and financing. This memorandum of understanding addresses the latter challenge. We therefore hope that this facility will enable greater participation by Mozambican companies in the industry and, in this way, generate more direct gains for the country,” Morais said.

For his part, BCI’s Executive Committee Chairman, José Furtado, welcomed the initiative, which highlights a central challenge in Mozambique’s development: “creating conditions for MSMEs to grow, compete and take advantage of the opportunities generated by the country’s major structural projects”. He also noted that the agreement signed “reflects a shared ambition: to transform the potential of Mozambican companies into effective capacity to participate in the economy’s value chains”.

ENH and BCI share a commitment to providing financing on favourable terms to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Mozambican MSMEs in the oil and gas value chain.

The MoU signing ceremony was held as part of the Quality, Certification and Market Access Forum for MSMEs, which took place in Maputo, bringing together more than 150 companies undergoing certification under the ISO 9001 standard, within the framework of the project implemented by ENH’s Linkar Programme and an initiative by MOZYWEB and the Institute for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (IPEME), both funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).