A Case Study of the International Finance Corporation in Nigeria :: Economics Business Case Study Essays

IFC Mission-To promote sustainable private field investing in developingcountries.The area Banks role, in my opinion, is to help break the businessenvironment in the developing countries so that the private sector candrive growth.- Mr. Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President of theWorld Bank Group (WBG) in charge of the external Finance stomach (IFC) - Lagos, August 2004.At the time Mr. Woicke was speaking, IFC stake in Nigeria hadreached $200million in investment commitments, a figure quicklysurpassed in less than a class from that date (as at June 2005, IFCinvestment in Nigeria was to the tune of $290million). This was in breach of the fact that only five short years before (in 1999), IFC wasdoing often no business in Nigeria and merely had a functional functional office in Lagos. Mr. Woicke went on to say- We bring in increasedour exposure since democracy returned from almost nothing to almost$800 million and an exposure at the IFC of most $200 million. We havemade a bigg er bet to have the bank (WB) and the IFC work on Nigeriasproblems together. We were quite instrumental in advising thegovernment on reforms in the telecom sector. We have been pushing precisehard for privatization of other sectors.Clearly, the advent of democracy had re-ignited interest in Nigeria.The mental institution of a reform agenda by the new government was in like mannerplaying a part in this renewed interest in Nigeria. Beyond financialcommitments however, IFC was beginning to offer a great switch of otherservices towards developing the economic environment of business inNigeria. As Mr. Woicke put it- I actually think we should increaseour heading quite (in Nigeria) dramatically. We dont necessarilywant to lend gobs of money to Nigeria, because Nigeria has lots ofresources. We can contribute in terms of providing advice,transferring technology, providing skillful know-how in social,environmental and corporate governance issuesIndeed, the nature of IFC operations int ernationally and increasingly inNigeria were such that contribution was becoming greater in terms oftechnology, advice, social development, environmental assistance,corporate governance and ethical issues, and global competitivenessconcerns. IFC had begun to realize that their market, and indeed theirbusiness model had reached a arctic moment wherein clients had begunto expect more than just project finance deals and recollective termsyndications.Governments were asking for help on private sector issues that went cold beyond privatization or concession structuring. There had arisen acase for IFC involvement as much in the Economic as in the Social,Environmental, Technological, worldwide and indeed perhaps ultimately-Political Environment of Business.II. IFC- HISTORY AND EVOLUTIONThe International Finance Corporation (IFC) was founded in 1956 to