The Central African Republic would become the 21st African country where UBA is present. The new UBA subsidiary would join the four others already established in the CEMAC zone specifically in Cameroon, Chad, Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.The goal of establishing the bank in the Central African Republic is primarily to facilitate access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as young entrepreneurs. According to the country's authorities, SMEs account for 80% of local employment.According to Bank of Central African States, crrently, four banks operate in the Central African Republic: Banque Populaire Maroco-centrafricaine , Banque Saharienne pour l'Investissement et le Commerce,  BGFI Bank, and Ecobank. The local credit market saw significant improvement in the third quarter of 2024, with banks granting 6,454 new loans, up 26.47% from 5,103 loans in the same period the previous year,  BGFI Bank is the leading actor with 45.99% of distributed credits, followed by Ecobank with 24.04% of credits and BSIC :19.71% of credits.Eenterprises received 75.98% of total credits, amounting to 19.8 billion CFA francs, up from 17.9 billion CFA francs in 2023. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), benefited from 13.90% of credits, totaling 3.6 billion CFA francs, showing an increase from 3.1 billion CFA francs in the previous year. Since its inception, UBA  foundation has  funded over 24,000 young entrepreneurs across  African countries, The establishment of UBA could therefore strengthen these entrepreneurship support programs in a country where young people often face limited access to formal financing

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