African trade forum charts own path to fund SMEs

Ms Gwen Mwaba, Afreximbank’s Managing Director of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking. [File, Standard]

African trade experts including from Kenya will gather in Abidjan next month for a key seminar aimed at tackling the continent's $100 billion trade finance gap, with a special focus on designing financial instruments for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), organiser Afreximbank said on Wednesday.

The 25th African Trade Finance Seminar (ATFS2025), scheduled for November 4-6, will concentrate on trade finance structures—complex financial solutions that use a company’s assets, like inventory or receivables, as collateral to secure loans and guarantees often deemed too risky under standard lending rules.