AeTrade Group Founder and CEO travels back to Africa to drive Continental Digital Transformation

Kigali, April 18, 2022- The Founder and CEO of the AeTrade Group, Mulualem Syoum has arrived in Africa as part of his commitment to establish this homegrown digital transformation initiative. “I believe that I am coming home to Rwanda, the home of Sokokuu. Africa, the home of all Africans. I recall the warm welcome extended by H.E. President Kagame during my last visit to Rwanda and this has been a motivating factor for us to accelerate the establishment of our operations” The establishment of the AeTrade Group Headquarters in Kigali, Rwanda is gathering momentum. As the AeTrade Group, we thank the Ministers responsible for ICT, Foreign Affairs, Trade and industry and the Rwanda Development Board for facilitating the processes in the host country agreement.

“It is an exciting and emotional moment for me as I reflect on the importance for all Africans in the Diaspora to consider the right moment to come back home to contribute in their own way to the rapidly developing African continent. The policymakers at the continental, regional and national levels have been working hard to unlock abundant opportunities for the accelerated integration and sustainable economic growth of the continent. Our role as the African private sector is to be the engine of growth, including job creation on a massive scale’ emphasized Mr. Syoum.

The significance of this moment is that the Founder and CEO has decided that this is the right moment to return to Africa, in order to live and to drive the digital transformation initiative. On the 10th April 2022 he left Montreal Canada where he has lived for more than 30 years in order to arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a period of three weeks in order to advance the preparations to establish the regional headquarters for East Africa, which is hosted by the Government of Ethiopia. Before the end of April 2022, it is expected that he shall arrive in Kigali, Rwanda where will be joining the start-up team that is ready to commence operations within the next few weeks. The date of the launch of the continental headquarters shall be announced in due course after consultations with the host Government and other key stakeholders.

“As a member of the African Business Council (AfBC), I am joining my brothers and sisters who are driving the agenda to build a prosperous, integrated and peaceful continent.” The AfBC was officially endorsed by the 13th Extraordinary Summit of African Union Heads of State and Government on the 5th December 2020 and recognized as the official private sector voice of the continental level.

The AeTrade Group under the Chairmanship of H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn extends it appreciation to the African Union, especially the AU Heads of State and Government, for the AU Summit Decision reached at the 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council which mandates the AeTrade Group to work closely with the Commission to work with the public and private sector, development financial institutions and international partners to ensure that digital . 2 and financial inclusion becomes a reality for the 1.3 billion Africans on our continent. “We wish to thank all the AU Member States that have invited us to establish country programmes and we wish to reaffirm our commitment to commence this phase of our implementation within the next few months” stated the Chairman of the AeTrade Group.

“As a citizen of Africa, I am humbled to be able to be part of this exciting challenge and opportunity to restore the dignity of our people, especially the women and youth by providing concrete opportunities to improve their lives through hard work, win-win partnerships and dedication to transform our continent together” concluded Mr. Syoum in his statement.

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About AeTrade Group The A-eTrade Group is an African Diaspora-led social entrepreneurship initiative that aims to fill crucial gaps in ecommerce and other information and communication technologies. The Group considers the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as an opportunity for Africa to make meaningful economic progress towards electronic trade and the adoption of technological tools to enhance efficiencies in governance with the support and participation of the private sector. The central commitment of the Group is to digitalize trade in Africa at a larger scale by encouraging impact investment in small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) with a view to creating more jobs for the growing youth population and generate wealth across the continent.

Contact details:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +268 7889 4001

Web: https://www.aetradegroup.com

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