When Vincent Arthur Floreani took over as the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Country Manager for Benin in 2023, the stakes were modest. The IFC’s office in Cotonou had just opened its doors, and the small francophone nation of 13 million wasn’t high on the list of investor destinations in West Africa. But Floreani saw something else: a tightly governed economy with rising ambitions, an underserved private sector, and a unique geographic advantage—direct proximity to Nigeria’s 200-million-person market.
Today, Floreani is leading an ambitious $100 million-a-year investment strategy to transform Benin into a springboard for regional growth and digital resilience. “We want Benin to plug into Nigeria’s scale,” he told in an interview. That phrase now echoes through the IFC’s pitch to public and private stakeholders across West Africa.
Floreani’s blueprint starts with digital infrastructure, which he describes as “particularly catalytic” for Benin’s economic transformation. While many development finance institutions treat internet access as an enabler, the IFC sees it as an economic multiplier in fragile and small markets.
In Benin, the development agency is investing in broadband rollouts, mobile network expansion, and data centers—critical rails for everything from digital government to fintech. Floreani points to a regional project with Maroc Telecom to scale 4G access in Mali and Chad as a template for similar Beninese ventures. The IFC has also ramped up its support for digital financial services and skills development, viewing workforce readiness as inseparable from infrastructure.
“There’s a throughline between connectivity, education, and jobs,” Floreani says. “Our investments in universities and training programs aim to close that loop.”
Linking up with Nigeria: A regional bet
The cross-border dimension gives Benin its geopolitical edge. Nestled between Nigeria and Togo, Benin has long played second fiddle in West Africa’s economic theater. Floreani believes that this can change if the country positions itself as a complementary supply hub for Nigeria’s demand-heavy sectors, including agribusiness, textiles, business process outsourcing, and even Nollywood-adjacent content.
In 2024, the IFC commissioned a study identifying Benin’s most promising value chains, like agribusiness (rice, maize, soya), textiles, tourism, cinema, education, and business process outsourcing (BPO), for Nigerian trade. It has since shared the findings with both governments. “Nigeria offers scale. Benin offers agility and geographic access,” Floreani notes. “We’re actively working on projects to formalize that corridor.”
During Benin Digital Week in November, the IFC will co-host a workshop on regional digital integration, convening stakeholders from the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) to telecom giants. It’s part of a broader push to harmonize policy and infrastructure across borders.
While infrastructure remains the IFC’s bread and butter, it has also grown into a major force in Africa’s tech ecosystem. The IFC’s portfolio now includes some of the most prominent startups in the region, including mobile money unicorn Wave in Senegal and super app Gozem in Benin and Togo.
Still, Floreani insists IFC’s checkbook comes with caveats. “We’re not in the business of spraying money,” he says. “We look for leadership, sustainability, and a path to scale.” That path doesn’t always mean equity either. The IFC provides debt, technical assistance, and ecosystem support and often co-invests with venture funds or commercial banks.
Gozem, for instance, used IFC capital to sharpen its regional expansion model. Floreani calls it a playbook: back a solid operator early, then help them scale across difficult terrain.
But he’s quick to temper expectations. “Not every startup will raise equity,” he says, echoing a growing chorus among African investors urging founders to rethink capital strategies. “Talent is not the issue. But we need stronger pipelines, incubators, and financial literacy.”
The $100 million goal and the startup mindset to get there
With IFC Benin still a relatively young outpost—it opened in 2020—Floreani compares his mandate to building a startup: introducing an unfamiliar product (IFC’s blended capital model), recruiting local allies, and chasing scalable wins.
Since his arrival, IFC has diversified its portfolio from financial inclusion to logistics and is preparing to announce a major investment in the banking sector. Next up: energy and agribusiness, two sectors Floreani believes can drive both local employment and regional trade.
Internally, his North Star is simple: deploy $100 million annually in high-impact, private-sector-led projects. Externally, the goal is more expansive: position Benin not just as a recipient of development finance, but as a regional node of growth, a platform economy in the making.
“We want to go beyond transactional deals,” he says, “and build transformative partnerships with startups, with banks, with governments, and especially with Nigeria.”
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