In a groundbreaking move for West African capital markets, Daba Finance and Genesis Capital successfully advised on the issuance of the West African Economic and Monetary Union's (WAEMU) first private energy green bond. This landmark CFAF 42.65 billion (€65 million) project finance green bond, issued by Ivory Coast solar developer Poro Power 1 S.A., marks a significant milestone as the first of its kind from a private energy company in the WAMU region.

The Abidjan-based investment bank, Genesis Capital, meticulously structured the bond as a 15-year instrument featuring an 8.75% fixed coupon. It received an A- rating from Bloomfield Investment Corporation, providing a crucial layer of credibility. The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) played a pivotal role by providing a substantial anchor investment, which was instrumental in attracting local institutional investors who might otherwise have hesitated with an untested structure. The bond deal closed fully subscribed, demonstrating strong market confidence.

The capital raised is earmarked for the construction of a 66-megawatt solar plant in Korhogo, northern Côte d'Ivoire. Upon its anticipated completion in 2027, this facility will stand as the country's largest privately-owned solar plant. It operates under a 25-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement with the Ivorian government, a contractual arrangement designed to assure long-tenor bond investors. The plant is projected to generate 130 GWh annually, sufficient to power 400,000 households and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions by 70,000 tonnes per year.

For Genesis Capital, led by managing partner Charles Kié, this transaction serves as a powerful testament to their expertise. The firm successfully developed a structure unprecedented in the WAMU energy market, achieving closure with international-standard documentation, a Morningstar Sustainalytics green opinion, and AFC acting as co-arranger. This unique combination offered regional investors a rare opportunity: a long-dated, rated, green-labelled private infrastructure bond underpinned by robust contractual protections. The total financing package for the project combines €30 million in equity with the €65 million bond, with MAC African SGI serving as the market arranger. The project itself is spearheaded by Ivorian entrepreneurs Jean Marc Aïé Yapi and Livane Bouedy, with shareholder support from Côte d'Ivoire Solar I GmbH.

Beyond this single deal, Genesis Capital's accomplishment holds immense significance for the broader WAMU bond market. It addresses a long-standing structural issue: while governments borrowed a record 11.9 trillion CFA francs through the market in 2025 and plan to raise 12.7 trillion in 2026, private infrastructure issuance has remained minimal. Despite the regional regulator CREPMF publishing a green bond framework in 2020 and the BRVM launching a bond accelerator program with GGGI to encourage private issuances, uptake was virtually non-existent until this transaction. Genesis Capital has demonstrated that the necessary architecture exists – a rated, covenanted, green-labelled project bond can indeed be successfully placed with domestic institutions at scale. This, however, requires a dedicated advisor willing to construct the framework from scratch and a multilateral institution like AFC to provide an anchor investment and signal credit comfort to the market. This newly proven template is now replicable across the region's pipeline of renewable energy projects, offering a timely solution as external funding for African infrastructure becomes increasingly challenging and expensive to secure and deploy.