A deal between United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat commits the bank to lend up to US$6.0 billion over the following three years to qualifying SMEs small and medium enterprises across Africa.
During the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meeting (AAM), which took place last week in Accra, Ghana, the bank and AfCFTA inked the deal.
Through the provision of technical and financial support for intra-African/domestic alternatives, the parties are required to encourage the growth of SMEs working in four industries under the first phase of the partnership that is heavily dependent on imports.
Improving SME access to markets and financing is one of the AfCFTA's main goals to promote their expansion and contribute to the socioeconomic development of Africa.
Muyiwa Akinyemi, the bank's deputy managing director, who signed the contract on the institution's behalf, stated that as Africa's global bank, UBA is still dedicated to fostering the expansion and progress of SMEs all over the continent.
Muyiwa further said, “Under this partnership UBA will go beyond just financing to provide non-financial services to these SMEs to develop the capacity for growth across the 20 African countries that we are present and build sustainable business practices. We shall also be leveraging on technology to deliver our financing activities to the beneficiaries and this platform provides us with a unique opportunity to stimulate the development of the continent as Africas’ Global Bank”.
In his remarks on the partnership with UBA, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, Ambassador Wamkele Mene, emphasized the necessity of accelerating intra-African trade and catalyzing industrialization in Africa in order to improve the socio-economic well-being of the continent and its people, which he noted was a driving force behind the partnership.
Wamkele stated: “The Secretariat is committed to supporting SMEs as it recognizes the financing gap SMEs face on the continent and intend to mitigate this gap through this partnership.
‘‘The identified areas of collaboration with UBA will provide the desired impetus for these SMEs to achieve the desired growth in their intra-Africa/export trading capabilities, which aligns with the objectives of the AfCFTA.”
