
Blessing V. Bonga
THE recently held 7th Annual SADC Industrialisation Summit hosted in Harare, Zimbabwe saw organisations drawn from various economic sectors within the Southern African region showcasing their products and services, in order to spread their mark to beyond their countries’ borders.
For financial institutions such as the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the summit was a fertile ground for aligning with their mandate of being the trade finance Bank for Africa, through stimulating the expansion and development of African trade, by supporting a range of clients that are direct operators in the trade ecosystem.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural SADC Investment Conference to run on the sidelines of the SADC industrialisation week, Afreximbank’s Acting Director, Trade and IATF, Dr Gainmore Zanamwe said his institution came into the conference seeking to actually mobilise investors from across the southern African region to grace the occasion, the goal being to clinch viable business deals.
“Afreximbank is a co-organiser, we actually start by mobilising investors to come and participate in the SADC investment forum and then when they are deals that are actually concluded here, we also finance some of them and be able to actually ensure that they are implemented.
“We also look at those that may require project preparation, we have a facility called the Afreximbank project preparation facility where we can work with those potential investors to be able to prepare those projects to bankability.
“We have done that in several countries, this is one of the key initiatives that we are implementing, we want to facilitate and promote Africa direct investment as well as foreign direct investment to support key projects especially those in the productive sector, such as mineral beneficiation, agro-processing as well as other initiatives that will help us create jobs and support the youth,” he said.
Dr Zanamwe added that there had been about 45 projects that had been put into their database and work is now under way to look at the projects with various stakeholders. Following Afreximbank’s successful participation in SADC’s industrialisation week, the institution, in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat will bring the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF 2025) to be hosted by Algeria, in Algiers running from the 4th to the 10th of September next year.
IATF 2025 will provide a unique and valuable platform that will give businesses access to a single African market of an estimated 1.4 billion people, accounting for a gross domestic product (GDP) of in excess of US$3.5 trillion created under the African Continental Free Trade Area. Organisers are confident that the Trade Fair will in 2025 net in in excess of US$44 billion, surpassing the 2023 edition figure that saw deals of around US$43.8 billion. Participants are expected to be drawn from approximately 140 countries, while exhibitors are expected to be around 2000.
The trade exhibition is set to target key sectors that include agriculture and agro-processing, construction and infrastructure, health and pharmaceuticals, ICT, manufacturing, mining and mineral beneficiation, energy and power, manufacturing and Youth Start-ups and research, innovation and development to mention just a few.