Zenith Bank signs pact with AfCFTA to build $1m smart portal for Africa

Zenith Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to fund the building of a smart portal for trade on the continent with $1 million. 

The MoU was signed by the Group CEO of Zenith Bank, Dr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, and the Secretary General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, during the ongoing 2023 Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar in Lagos. 

While highlighting the need for Africa to look inwards for trade, Dr Onyeagwu, at the seminar themed: “Nigerian Non-Oil Export Industry: The Present, The Future”, said the need to drive Africa’s prosperity by Africans informed the idea of the single Africa trade portal.

He noted that the portal would play a significant role in facilitating trade among African countries. 

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Explaining the capabilities of the portal and how it will impact trade in Africa, he said, “With the development of this portal, one of the capabilities we are going to build in there is that you can see it in every part of Africa and market your products and services. You can see it in every part of Africa and identify whatever products and services you require that are in Africa. 

“If you look at Q1 exports in Nigeria, you will realise that 46.43 per cent of non-oil exports in Nigeria go to Europe, 24.85 per cent go to Asia, America 18.39 per cent, and Africa 10.27 per cent. And also there is this tendency in Africa; the moment you are looking for an item you can’t find in your geography or region, the next thing you think of is how do I find it in Europe? How do I find it in the West? How do I find it in China? Now with the development of the AfCFTA portal, we are saying, ‘Look for it in Africa before you look elsewhere’.”

The Secretary General of AfCFTA, Mene, commended Zenith Bank for coming up with the idea of a smart trade portal for Africa and for funding it.

He said, “What many of you may not be aware of and the MD may be too modest to say is that Zenith Bank was the first bank to come to me to say we want to partner with you. We went to see the chairman and the chairman said that Zenith Bank wants to make a contribution to digitise trade in Africa. I’ve never been offered a million dollars before. It was the first time when he said, ‘Here is a million dollars’.”