African Business Roundtable, Afreximbank conclude first webinar in series for project preparation

The African Business Roundtable (ABR) and the African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) came together last week in a well executed endeavor that is a passion of both organizations – bringing business projects to fruition.

The ABR came into being 30 years ago with the clear objective of supporting the private sector of Africa, nurturing it to a point of international success and recognition. The Afreximbank, a trade finance bank, has also spent the past three decades committed to assisting African entrepreneurs and businesses in realizing their projects. It was this joint objective that led both organizations to coordinate the Project Preparation Masterclass webinar, free and accessible to all.

Speaking at the webinar were industry leaders like:

Justin Chinyanta, Vice President of the African Business Roundtable Southern African Region and CEO of Loita Capital Partners,

Yusuf Daya, Director AU/AfCFTA Relations and Trade Policy of Afreximbank,

Nana Amoto Mensah, Executive Director C-NERGY Global Holdings, Ghana, and

Zitto Alfayo, Head of Project Preparation, Afreximbank.

Poor planning and even poorer execution has been identified as a primary cause of startups failures, especially in Africa. The most brilliant plan will not secure the required funding if investors are not satisfied on the viability of a project, and many startups lack the knowledge and skill needed to take their plan through the required stages – from idea generation to pitch presentation.

Zitto Alfayo, Head of Project Preparation, Afreximbank: “Out of every ten transactions conceived in Africa, only one gets to financial closing. We have analyzed and found that the key challenge comes in at the feasibility stage. This is where one needs to commit resources, time and effort in order to get to bankability.”

The webinar focused on filling a knowledge gap which is inhibiting African companies from accessing the financing needed to take their projects off the ground. Participants listened to banking and trade experts with decades of experience from all over the continent share insight on how best to approach the right investors to secure funding for their projects.

Yusuf Daya, Director AU/AfCFTA Relations and Trade Policy of Afreximbank: “We recognize that trade finance in Africa continues to be handicapped by liquidity constraints, further worsened by the withdrawal from Africa by foreign banks and low access to financing for SMEs. For this reason, the Afreximbank has prioritized facilitating trade finance on the continent.”

In his closing remarks, Dr. Mohammed El Sahili, African Business Roundtable Country Director, Zambia, stressed that the issue of attracting funding from investors is of great importance and therefore in the interest of entrepreneurs and businesses to acquire this skill.

“The next webinar in this series is scheduled for September 28^th 2022, and will focus on case studies of real projects and center on specificities of project preparation,” he concluded.