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

IFC Mission-To promote sustainable hidden sector investment in underdevelopedcountries.The World Banks role, in my opinion, is to help improve the patronageenvironment in the developing countries so that the private sector candrive growth.- Mr. Peter Woicke, executive director Vice President of theWorld Bank Group (WBG) in stimulate of the International FinanceCorporation (IFC) - Lagos, August 2004.At the time Mr. Woicke was speaking, IFC interest group in Nigeria hadreached $200 gazillion in investment commitments, a figure quicklysurpassed in less than a year from that date (as at June 2005, IFCinvestment in Nigeria was to the tune of $290million). This was inspite of the fact that only five petty years before (in 1999), IFC wasdoing practically no business in Nigeria and but had a functionalworking office in Lagos. Mr. Woicke went on to say- We pee increasedour exposure since commonwealth returned from almost nothing to almost$800 million and an exposure at the IFC of ab out $200 million. We havemade a bigger 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 veryhard for privatization of other sectors.Clearly, the advent of democracy had re-ignited interest in Nigeria.The initiation of a reform agenda by the new government was alsoplaying a part in this renewed interest in Nigeria. Beyond financialcommitments however, IFC was beginning to invite a great deal of otherservices towards developing the economical environment of business inNigeria. As Mr. Woicke put it- I in truth think we should increaseour presence quite (in Nigeria) dramatically. We dont unavoidablywant to lend tons of money to Nigeria, because Nigeria has lots ofresources. We can reach in terms of providing advice,transferring technology, providing technical know-how in social,environmental and collective plaque issuesIndeed, the nature of IFC opera tions globally and increasingly inNigeria were such that percentage 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 pivotal moment wherein clients had begunto expect more than in force(p) project finance deals and long termsyndications.Governments were asking for help on private sector issues that wentfar beyond privatization or concession structuring. in that location had arisen acase for IFC involvement as much in the economical as in the Social, environmental, Technological, Global and indeed perhaps ultimately-Political Environment of Business.II. IFC- HISTORY AND EVOLUTIONThe International Finance Corporation (IFC) was founded in 1956 to