A new project alert as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and Zenith Bank ZenPay signed an MoU on Smart AfCFTA

The AfCFTA Secretariat and Zenith Bank Plc?through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Zenpay Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Lagos, Nigeria, to collaborate to develop a portal to facilitate intra-African trade in the continent.

The digital platform, according to a statement, will be known as Smart AfCFTA, and will streamline and unlock vast opportunities for trade across the African continent, providing information like trade indicators, market trends, custom tariffs, trade agreements, Rules of Origin, market access requirements of relevant jurisdictions, export potentials, export diversification indicators and contact details of business partners in target markets and other trade-related information about Africa.

Speaking at the signing of the agreement last Friday in Lagos, the Chairman of ZenPay, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, emphasised that, “This initiative?is not driven?by profit but by the need to support the AfCFTA

“It aims to create a unified African market,?enhancing?economic integration?and standardising?customs and practices.?As we advance this agenda, we expect?to see?significant growth and improvement in intra-Africa trade.”

He noted that, “In Africa, intra-African trade constitutes only about 20 per cent of total trade, with the rest going overseas, despite Africans making up 18 per cent of the world population but contributing less than 5 per cent to global GDP. By trading within Africa, we anticipate building prosperity across the continent.”

On his part, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Mr Wamkele Mene, said, “Four years ago, we discussed and envisioned Smart AfCFTA as a digital platform to empower SMEs and young entrepreneurs in Africa, facilitating their inclusion in trade and boosting intra-African trade.

“This platform will serve as a repository for crucial trade data, offering insights on rules of origin and market intelligence, thus?playing a pivotal role?in implementing the AfCFTA agreement.

“Today is a testament that working together with our African partners in this case, Zenith Bank shows that their commitment goes beyond their profit margins to their stakeholders, but are motivated by our shared duty towards the continent.”

In thesame vein, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has recently announced the launch of the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG) in Accra, a groundbreaking digital ecosystem comprising of five products suite as follows:

1.) MANSA, Africa’s due diligence platform, provides a single source of primary data required for the conduct of customer due diligence on African entities, financial institutions, corporates and SMEs. It also provides complementary collection of information on investment in Africa, country profiles and traded products/services of African countries.

2.) PAPSS was established to enable efficient payment for intra-African trade in national currencies, promoting intra-African trade, minimising risk and contributing to financial integration across Africa. In July 2019, African Union heads of state meeting in Niamey, adopted PAPSS as the payment and settlement system to support the implementation of the AfCFTA. It currently operates out of Cairo.

3.) TRADAR Club, is member-driven network aimed at empowering international businesses and executives to transform trade and investments in Africa through trusted trade intelligence and advisory services through innovative digital tools and networking opportunities, helping members to discover new markets; grow their business; save time; access dedicated expert support; post and respond to new business opportunities; network; meet business/trading partners, etc.? Membership is open to global industry leaders, African and foreign businesses, intergovernmental organisations, policy makers and others committed to unlocking growth and development in Africa.

4.) ATEX is a B2B and B2G e-commerce platform launched at the 54th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Dakar in May 2022, to help small and medium scale and large African businesses to tap into new markets in Africa and to facilitate the optimisation of their supply chains. It enables procurement in bulk for basic commodities to ensure access to suppliers in a transparent manner.

5.) ATG Connect serves to connect business service providers across Africa. It provides freight and logistics connectivity solutions which allow for frictionless connecting and matching of freight/ logistics requests with freight and logistics providers listed on the platform. Customer scan get quotes for the pickup and delivery of goods to and from any location in Africa at a very competitive price

Learn more about Yaraa.io commitment to supporting African Businesses in the area of Sourcing and Access to Global Suppliers' Network, eProcurement, Project Systems, Efficient Contract Management and Order-to-Cash Processes amongst others in the Free Trade Area

Yaraa.io, a comprehensive procurement platform designed to streamline business operations offers a suite of powerful tools that automate manual processes, provide real-time insights, and enhance supplier relationships with a goal to improve transparency in procurement, control costs, streamline approvals, and reduce inefficiencies across the "Procure-to-Pay" process, from sourcing to payments amongst others.

A Sneak Peek into our Key Products

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Having successfully processed purchase orders exceeding $25 million in value, we are delighted?to see if there may be room for partnership. You can easily schedule a 30 minutes demo presentation of our product here to learn more.

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