AFRICAN Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) will host a seminar in Abidjan next month to address a persistent US$100 billion trade finance gap that is constraining African economies and leaving the continent’s small businesses underserved.
The three-day Trade Finance Seminar (ATFS2025), scheduled for November 4 to 6, will focus on developing innovative financing structures.
A key objective is to increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which constitute over 90% of African businesses but struggle to secure funding from traditional banks.
Gwen Mwaba, Afreximbank’s managing director of trade finance & correspondent banking, said structured trade finance was Africa’s ticket to turning unbankable deals into viable trade.
“This seminar equips financial leaders with the tools to unlock growth at scale, especially in challenging conditions,” she said.
“As global regulations tighten and international lenders scale back, Africa must strengthen its own capacity to deploy structured trade finance.
“Hosting this training in Africa allows hundreds of African professionals to build critical expertise at a fraction of the cost of similar programmes in the main global financial centres such as London, Singapore, or New York.”
A one-day factoring workshop will follow on November 7, 2025.
ATFS2025 will convene leading African and international trade finance specialists, banking professionals, corporates, regulators.
The seminar programme will feature keynote addresses, interactive workshops, and high-level panel discussions.
Other highlights include a workshop on syndications and agency covering key finance documents and Africa’s lending landscape, and a session on eliminating the trade finance gap: The role of development banks, the new trade finance world order, and the trade finance conference of parties.
