Cairo, 01 June 2023 – In a move that is set to change the face of supply chain and SME financing in Africa, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the supply chain financing company, Fiducia, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote factoring across the continent and help reduce the supply chain finance gap.
Signed by Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank, and Imohimi Aig-Imoukhuede, Chief Executive Officer of Fiducia, the MOU aims to facilitate collaboration between the two parties to harmonize their efforts to achieve the stated objectives.
According to the MoU, Afreximbank is partnering with Fiducia in order to provide additional liquidity for trade facilitation through factoring on the Fiducia marketplace. The Bank will also explore collaboration opportunities with Fiducia and Access Corporation for payables financing across African markets.
Speaking on the partnership, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede, the Chief Executive Officer of Fiducia, remarked, “This MOU reflects the benefits for SMEs which a partnership between Fiducia and Afreximbank can drive. One such benefit is the deepening of the Nigerian Supply-Chain Financing landscape, through on-lending to Financiers (both Banks and non-Bank Factors) for use on the Fiducia marketplace platform. This will further lower funding costs on the platform and ensure strengthening and development of suppliers and buyers alike, by promoting availability of capital to facilitate trade. Similarly, the 2 partnering entities will work together to apply similar marketplace benefits to MSMEs across the African continent”.
Mrs. Awani, the Afreximbank Executive Vice President, said that the partnership with Fiducia was another step forward in Afreximbank’s ongoing developmental initiative of promoting factoring across the African continent as a means to reduce the trade finance gap which was most acutely felt by SMEs.
“SMEs contribute the majority of economic output and employment generation in Africa. Greater access to bank financing will, therefore, enhance the growth of this vital segment. The involvement of emerging factors in the financing arrangement will also build factoring capacity across the continent in furtherance of Afreximbank’s vision of Transforming Africa’s Trade,” commented Mrs. Awani.
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About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2022, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$31 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.2 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$86 billion between 2016 and 2022. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”).
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com
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About Fiducia
Fiducia is a technology-enabled platform built to power supply chain financing and support the development of small businesses in Africa. The company’s core objective is to bridge the gap between SMEs and their access to a marketplace of multiple financiers, together providing lowest -cost funding to facilitate trade.
Fiducia is leveraging technology to drive an increase in the adoption of factoring for SMEs across Nigeria & Africa. With a projection to process a total invoice value of US$12bn by 2027, Fiducia will drive factoring and its variants which can be considered as an alternative financing option to SMEs who are the bedrock of economic growth and job creation in Africa.
For more information, visit: www.myfiducia.com
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Media contacts
Afreximbank: Amadou Labba Sall, asall@afreximbank.com
Fiducia: Motunrayo Ayo-Akwe, motunrayo.ayo-akwe@myfiducia.com
