Groupe COFINA
Groupe COFINA is a pan-African financial services group offering mesofinance (loans of €5,000–€300,000), savings, insurance, and digital banking to underserved SMEs, women entrepreneurs, and the African diaspora across 8 African countries and France.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersAbidjan
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Groupe COFINA does
Groupe COFINA, founded in 2013 by Jean-Luc Konan and headquartered in Abidjan, is a pan-African financial services group operating as the first 100% African institution exclusively dedicated to mesofinance — the credit segment between traditional microfinance (typically under €5,000) and commercial bank lending. The group serves SMEs, entrepreneurs, women business owners, and African diaspora clients who fall into the "missing middle": too large or complex for microfinance institutions but too informal or undercapitalized for commercial banks. Its operating footprint spans 8 African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Congo, Gabon) plus France (Paris), delivered through 94+ agency branches and approximately 2,200 employees across operating subsidiaries (COFINA Burkina, COFINA Congo, COFINA Côte d'Ivoire, COFINA Gabon, COFINA Guinea, COFINA Mali, COFINA Senegal, COFINA Togo, FIN'Elle, COFINA Services France, FERILI, Logilis, Cash Deal).
COFINA's core products include meso and microcredit (typical ticket sizes between 5,000 and 300,000 euros), savings and deposit accounts (with yields up to 5–7% depending on country), insurance and bancassurance (including a death-and-repatriation policy at €38/year for €10,000 coverage in France), housing finance, structured financing (signature guarantees, advances on contracts), digital/mobile banking via the Cofina Online platform, and asset-backed securitization instruments issued on the BRVM regional exchange. Technology infrastructure is largely traditional, but the group has built embedded digital lending through a December 2024 partnership with Yango (ride-hailing) and Yabx (embedded finance platform): Yabx provides AI-based credit scoring using digital footprint analysis to underwrite instant cash advances of up to 300,000 FCFA to Yango drivers in Côte d'Ivoire, with COFINA supplying the loan capital.
The business model combines interest income from meso/microcredit lending (the dominant revenue stream) with fee income from digital banking, transfers, insurance premiums, and securitization structuring. Wholesale funding is sourced from a diversified base of development finance institutions — DPI (€60M minority equity stake, May 2022), BEI (€26M debt facility, 2023), Swedfund (~$21M, November 2024), BOAD (5B FCFA line, 2020), Oikocredit (€2.3M for FIN'Elle, 2021), FMO, PROPARCO, Mediterrania Capital Partners (2018 equity), and the African Solidarity Fund (FSA). The group also pioneered the first asset-backed securitization of SME receivables on the BRVM in April 2018 (10 billion FCFA issuance, 60% oversubscribed at 16 billion FCFA). Cumulative financed projects exceed 100,000 across 175,000+ clients, with an outstanding loan portfolio (encours) reported at approximately 500 billion FCFA as of December 2020 and continued growth evidenced by 2025 subsidiary disclosures (FIN'Elle disbursements exceeding 140B FCFA cumulatively; COFINA Senegal production volume exceeding 45B FCFA).
Groupe COFINA firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Groupe COFINA
- Legal name
- Compagnie Transnationale d'Investissement (CTI)
- Website
- https://groupecofina.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Groupe COFINA is a pan-African financial services group offering mesofinance (loans of €5,000–€300,000), savings, insurance, and digital banking to underserved SMEs, women entrepreneurs, and the African diaspora across 8 African countries and France.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Groupe COFINA industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Mesofinance
- NAICS
- Depository Credit Intermediation (5221), Savings Institutions and Other Depository Credit Intermediation (52218)
- SIC
- Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Microloans & Working Capital Loans (FSAKAGAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Microfinance, Financial Inclusion & Inclusive Markets (BPAGABAM), Regional/Diaspora-focused Neobanks (FSABAFAK)
Keywords
Where Groupe COFINA is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Abidjan
Offices7 records
Markets served
Groupe COFINA business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Meso and Microcredit Interest Income: COFINA's primary revenue stream comes from interest income on meso and microcredit loans extended to SMEs, entrepreneurs, and individuals. The group targets financing needs between approximately 5,000 and 300,000 euros per client, filling the gap between traditional microfinance and commercial banking. Average loan size is around 5 million FCFA.
- Insurance and Bancassurance Products: COFINA offers death and repatriation insurance (e.g., 38 euros per year for coverage up to 10,000 euros), as well as other insurance products. These generate premium income and fee revenue.
- Digital Banking and M-Banking/E-Banking Fees: COFINA generates fee income from mobile and digital banking services including account management, transfers, and card services (Visa prepaid cards). For diaspora clients in France, fees are charged on remittance transfers (e.g., 10 euros per 5,000 euros sent).
- Diaspora Financial Services: COFINA Services France offers savings accounts (current and deposit accounts), term deposits, money transfers to Africa, and housing credit referrals. Revenue comes from account maintenance fees (zero), transaction fees, and exchange margins on remittances.
- Securitization of Loan Portfolios: COFINA raises funds by securitizing its loan portfolios through the BRVM (Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières). The group issued 10 billion FCFA in bonds (April 2018) backed by créances, raising 16 billion FCFA (60% oversubscribed). This generates fee income from the structuring and serves as a wholesale funding mechanism.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Savings accounts for diaspora clients (France) |
| Subscription | Annual | Death and repatriation insurance (France) |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Remittance/transfer fees (France to Africa) |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Visa prepaid card usage |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Multi-year contract | Securitization bonds (BRVM/UEMOA) |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Groupe COFINA product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Groupe COFINA is an African financial institution providing mesofinance — meso and microcredit, savings, insurance, housing finance, and digital banking — to SMEs, entrepreneurs, and individuals across 8 African countries and France. It targets the "missing middle" between microfinance and traditional banking, with financing needs between approximately 5,000 and 300,000 euros per client. The group operates through 94+ agency branches, dedicated subsidiaries for women entrepreneurs (FIN'Elle) and African diaspora (COFINA Services France), and embedded lending via the Yango platform.
Product overview
Groupe COFINA operates as a pan-African financial services group built around a core mesofinance brand (COFINA) and several specialized subsidiaries and sub-brands. Mesofinance fills the gap between traditional microfinance and commercial banking, serving SMEs and consumers who are too large for microfinance but lack the formal documentation required by banks. The portfolio includes the core COFINA brand (meso/microcredit, savings, insurance, housing finance, structured financing, digital banking) across 8 African countries plus France; FIN'Elle (women-focused mesofinance subsidiary in Côte d'Ivoire); COFINA Services France (diaspora banking); Cash Deal, Logilis, and FERILI (subsidiary brands); Cofina Start Up House (incubator); and securitization products issued via the BRVM. COFINA Online provides the digital/mobile banking channel for client account management. The group also partners with Yango and Yabx for embedded digital lending (Driver Cash Advance).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Cofina Online: Digital/online platform for COFINA financial services
- FIN'Elle (Finance Pour Elle)
- COFINA Services France
- Cash Deal
- Cofina Start Up House
- Cofina Talk
- Cofina TV
Products and services
- COFINA Meso and Microcredit Core lending products targeting SMEs, very small enterprises, and entrepreneurs with financing needs between 5,000 and 300,000 euros, addressing the gap between traditional microfinance and commercial bank requirements. Average loan size around 5 million FCFA.
- COFINA Savings and Deposit Products Savings accounts, current accounts, and time deposits offered to clients across COFINA's geographic footprint, with competitive interest rates (up to 5-7% annually depending on country, deposit amount and duration) and zero account maintenance fees.
- COFINA Insurance / Bancassurance Insurance products including death and repatriation coverage (COFINA Services France offers an annual policy for 38 euros covering up to 10,000 euros in guarantees for body preservation in France, repatriation, preservation in country of origin, and transfer to burial site), as well as general insurance offerings across the COFINA network.
- COFINA Housing Finance Financing solutions for housing, including social housing finance, offered as part of COFINA's diversified product range to support property acquisition and construction for underserved populations. Housing credit referrals also provided through COFINA Services France for diaspora clients.
- COFINA Structured Financing Complex financing solutions including signature guarantees, collateral guarantees, and advances on contracts and purchase orders, provided to clients who do not qualify for traditional bank financing. Targets urgent financing needs such as inventory, customs clearance, and seasonal purchasing.
- COFINA Services France (Diaspora Banking) Diaspora-focused financial services established in Paris offering savings accounts, prepaid Visa cards, money transfers (10 euros per 5,000 euros), death and repatriation insurance, and housing credit referrals. Accounts are valid in both France and the client's country of origin with funds made available in real time.
- FIN'Elle (Women-Focused Mesofinance) Mesofinance institution dedicated to women entrepreneurs offering savings accounts, micro and meso credit for women-led businesses, and capacity-building programs. Operates 5 branches in Côte d'Ivoire with over 150 collaborators; has financed more than 11,200 projects for more than 37,000 clients since 2018, with disbursement volume exceeding 140 billion FCFA.
- Driver Cash Advance (Cash Deal) Embedded digital lending product for gig economy workers (drivers, delivery personnel, merchants) integrated into the Yango ride-hailing app. Drivers can access instant cash advances up to 300,000 FCFA with flexible repayment over 2-8 weeks. COFINA Côte d'Ivoire provides the funding; Yabx handles AI/ML-based credit scoring using digital footprints.
- FERILI Microfinance Microfinance subsidiary of Groupe COFINA operating in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal.
- Logilis Financial Services Financial services subsidiary of Groupe COFINA operating in Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon.
Quantifiable outcome
- Funded 100,000+ projects over 6 years with 500 billion FCFA in outstanding loans
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Groupe COFINA
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Groupe COFINA technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability2 records
Feature3 records
Groupe COFINA partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Africa Business Forum / BUSINESS AFRICA MagazineminorCOFINA Senegal participated in the Africa Business Forum organized by BUSINESS AFRICA Magazine. Abdou Lahad Cissé, COFINA Senegal's Legal Director, spoke on a panel about digital law and personal data protection at the Noom Hotel in Dakar.
- SCRED (Salon du Crédit et du Financement)minorFIN'Elle participated in the first edition of SCRED 2025 (Salon du Crédit et du Financement de Côte d'Ivoire) held at Parc des Expositions d'Abidjan. FIN'Elle's Directrice Exploitation Victoire ZEBE-GUIGUI spoke on a panel about women's and youth entrepreneurship access to financing.
- DPI ESG TeamminorCOFINA Senegal and DPI strengthened their ESG synergies in August 2025, building on DPI's €60 million investment in COFINA Group in 2022. DPI is COFINA's financial investor and co-develops ESG standards with the group.
- AFRIVACminorCOFINA Senegal partnered with AFRIVAC to support sustainable vaccination efforts, part of COFINA's broader RSE (Corporate Social Responsibility) commitments in the countries where it operates.
- FIN'Elle and SGPME PartnershipminorFIN'Elle and SGPME (Société Générale des PME) formed a partnership to support women-owned businesses, combining FIN'Elle's financing capabilities with SGPME's business development services.
- Fondation SEPHISminorCOFINA Senegal partnered with Fondation SEPHIS to support women's entrepreneurship, combining financial services with foundation programs for female entrepreneurs.
- SCOOPAC (Cocoa Cooperative)minorSCOOPAC, a cocoa cooperative with over 3,000 members in Côte d'Ivoire, participated in the January 2025 BEI/EU delegation visit to COFINA Côte d'Ivoire and FIN'Elle, discussing challenges and opportunities in cocoa transformation and commercialization under the BEI-CO FINA €26M agricultural financing agreement.
- Yango Côte d'IvoirecoreCOFINA partnered with Yango (international tech company) and Yabx (embedded finance platform) to launch 'Driver Cash Advance' — a digital lending product integrated into the Yango ride-hailing app. COFINA Côte d'Ivoire provides the funding; Yabx handles AI-based credit scoring. Advances up to 300,000 FCFA over 2–8 weeks for Yango drivers, with planned expansion to passengers, delivery personnel, and merchants.
- YabxcoreYabx provides the embedded lending infrastructure for the Driver Cash Advance product with Yango and COFINA. Using AI and machine learning, Yabx creates financial identities for borrowers with no traditional credit history by analyzing digital footprints, enabling real-time lending decisions. Yabx has deployed financial solutions across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine (CNTS) SenegalminorCOFINA Group and its Senegalese subsidiaries (Cash Deal Senegal and COFINA Senegal) partnered with CNTS to organize a blood donation day at COFINA's Point E headquarters in Dakar, as part of COFINA's 10th anniversary celebrations and RSE commitments. Over 60 people participated.
- BEM Management SchoolminorCOFINA signed a partnership convention with BEM (Business School of Dakar, recognized as best business school in francophone West Africa by Jeune Afrique) to facilitate internship recruitment from BEM Abidjan and Dakar campuses and to develop certifying and degree programs through COFINA's internal training academy.
Scale indicators16 records
Recent moves11 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Groupe COFINA competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Baobab (formerly Microcred): Pan-African microfinance and SME finance group originally backed by French investors (Crédit Agricole, IFC). Directly comparable to COFINA in serving small businesses and entrepreneurs across West and Central Africa, with similar ticket sizes and a focus on financial inclusion.
- Advans Group: International microfinance and SME finance group operating across West and Central Africa (and Asia). Serves similar target customers — small businesses and underserved entrepreneurs — with comparable mesofinance-style products and multi-country footprint.
- ProCredit Holding: Group of development-oriented commercial banks serving small and medium enterprises in Africa (including francophone West Africa) and Eastern Europe. Comparable in focus on SME banking and developmental finance orientation, though structured as a regulated bank rather than mesofinance specialist.
- ACEP (African Centre for SME Finance / Agence de Crédit pour l'Entreprise Privée): Senegal-based microfinance institution specialized in SME financing. Direct comparable to COFINA in West African SME lending market with similar focus on the 'missing middle' between microfinance and commercial banking.
Broad incumbents
- Ecobank: Pan-African commercial banking group operating across 35+ African countries including all of COFINA's footprint. Overlaps in SME banking and remittances (Ecosend) but as a broad incumbent offering the full bank product suite rather than specializing in mesofinance.
- Equity Bank: Pan-African banking group with strong financial-inclusion positioning serving SMEs and retail customers across East and Central Africa. Comparable in scale and SME focus but operating as a full-service commercial bank with a different geographic concentration than COFINA's francophone West/Central Africa base.
Regional players
- NSIA Banque: West and Central African banking group headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire with operations in 11+ countries across the UEMOA and CEMAC zones. Comparable regional reach and SME/corporate banking focus, though as a commercial bank rather than mesofinance specialist.
- Banque Atlantique (BCP group): West African banking subsidiary of Morocco's Banque Populaire group, operating across UEMOA countries including Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Comparable regional presence and SME banking focus but as a commercial bank rather than mesofinance specialist.
- Orabank: Togo-headquartered banking group operating across West and Central Africa (12+ countries including Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon). Comparable geographic footprint and SME focus in the UEMOA region where COFINA operates.
Others
- I&P (Investisseurs & Partenaires): Paris-based impact investment firm dedicated to African SMEs, providing equity and quasi-equity funding to small businesses and financial inclusion operators. Comparable in financial-inclusion focus but operates as an investor/ecosystem enabler rather than a direct competitor to COFINA's lending business.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Groupe COFINA social profiles
Digital presenceGroupe COFINA financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Groupe COFINA leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Groupe COFINA subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries13 records
Groupe COFINA funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Groupe COFINA M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Groupe COFINA
What does Groupe COFINA do?
Groupe COFINA is an African financial institution providing mesofinance — meso and microcredit, savings, insurance, housing finance, and digital banking — to SMEs, entrepreneurs, and individuals across 8 African countries and France. It targets the "missing middle" between microfinance and traditional banking, with financing needs between approximately 5,000 and 300,000 euros per client. The group operates through 94+ agency branches, dedicated subsidiaries for women entrepreneurs (FIN'Elle) and African diaspora (COFINA Services France), and embedded lending via the Yango platform.
Is Groupe COFINA a public or private company?
Groupe COFINA is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Groupe COFINA founded?
Groupe COFINA was founded in 2013. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Groupe COFINA based?
Groupe COFINA is headquartered in Abidjan.
How does Groupe COFINA make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Meso and Microcredit Interest Income is the primary driver. The others are insurance and Bancassurance Products, digital Banking and M-Banking/E-Banking Fees, diaspora Financial Services and securitization of Loan Portfolios.
Who are Groupe COFINA's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Baobab (formerly Microcred), Advans Group, ProCredit Holding and ACEP (African Centre for SME Finance / Agence de Crédit pour l'Entreprise Privée). Broad incumbents are Ecobank and Equity Bank. Regional players are NSIA Banque, Banque Atlantique (BCP group) and Orabank. I&P (Investisseurs & Partenaires) is listed as an others.
Does Groupe COFINA have an API?
No public API is recorded for Groupe COFINA.
What industry is Groupe COFINA in?
Groupe COFINA's product category is Mesofinance. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAKAGAA, Microloans & Working Capital Loans, with a secondary code of BPAGABAM, Microfinance, Financial Inclusion & Inclusive Markets. Its NAICS code is 5221 and its SIC code is 6153.