The United Bank of Africa (UBA) has launched a $6 billion financing project aimed at accelerating the growth of Africa’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
This project is intended to facilitate the expansion of SMEs in the agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, automotive, transportation, and logistics sectors by providing them with financial access.
To start the finance project, UBA has partnered with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat.
Within the next three years, this initiative promises to provide $6 billion in funding to qualifying SMEs across Africa.
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The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 30th Annual Meeting of Afreximbank (AAM) in Accra, Ghana.
According to the agreement, UBA and AfCFTA will stimulate the development of SMEs in the first phase of the collaboration by offering technical and financing solutions for intra-African and domestic options.
Muyiwa Akinyemi, UBA’s Deputy Managing Director, who represented the bank at the signing, underscored UBA’s commitment to accelerating the growth of SMEs across Africa, emphasizing the firm’s position as the continent’s global bank.
“This is in line with our strategic focus on the SME segment being a catalyst for the economic development of Africa,” he stated.
“Under this partnership, UBA will go beyond just financing to provide non-financial services to these SMEs in order to develop capacity for growth across the 20 African countries where we are present and build sustainable business practices,” Muyiwa added.
“We will also use technology to bring our funding activities to the beneficiaries, and this platform gives us a unique potential to promote the continent’s development as Africa’s Global Bank.”
Furthermore, Alero Ladipo, Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at UBA, emphasized the bank’s willingness to provide $240,000 in financing.
This assistance will be provided in the form of a combination of working capital loans and asset finance loans, with the ultimate goal of positioning these businesses for success in Africa’s changing business landscape.
She explained that SMEs in the agro-processing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and logistics sectors will be able to access a working capital loan through overdrafts and short-term loans with a maximum value of $120,000 in each of their country’s local currencies and an asset finance loan of up to $120,000 in the obligor’s local currency to use for the acquisition of operational assets and equipment to meet their business expansion needs.
Aside from financial help, she emphasized the bank’s commitment to empowering SMEs through a variety of training initiatives and important tools.
UBA’s mission is to provide these companies with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a highly competitive market.
She stated, “UBA recognizes the importance of SMEs in driving economic growth and job creation.” To facilitate their development and success.
To that end, we are delighted to be at the forefront of propelling African entrepreneurship. Our collaboration with AfCFTA, as well as our commitment to SMEs in these crucial sectors, demonstrate our commitment to our continent’s economic transformation.
We believe that this project will not only benefit individual businesses but will also significantly contribute to Africa’s general development and prosperity.”
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