Côte d’Ivoire: African SMEs at the Center of the 25th Trade Finance Seminar in Abidjan

The 25th edition of the African Trade Finance Seminar (ATFS2025), scheduled to take place from November 4 to 6 in Abidjan, will make Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital a hub for African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Organized by Afreximbank, this flagship event will be followed on November 7 by a specialized workshop on factoring, bringing together experts, regulators, bankers, and entrepreneurs from across Africa and beyond.

In a context of financial turbulence affecting emerging markets, the trade finance gap in Africa—estimated at 100 billion US dollars annually—remains a major concern. The seminar aims to propose concrete solutions to bridge this gap, with a strong focus on SMEs, which represent over 90% of the continent’s economic structures but remain largely excluded from traditional banking systems.

Gwen Mwaba, Director and Global Head of Trade Finance at Afreximbank, emphasized the crucial role of structured trade finance in transforming non-bankable deals into viable commercial transactions. “Structured trade finance is the means for Africa to turn non-bankable deals into viable trade transactions,” she stated.

She also stressed the importance of strengthening local capacities amid the withdrawal of international lenders and evolving global regulations. “This training enables hundreds of African professionals to gain essential expertise at a fraction of the cost of programs offered in major global financial centers,” she added.

The program includes keynote speeches, high-level panel discussions, and interactive workshops covering key topics such as unlocking Africa’s trade finance potential, the continent’s emerging role in global energy financing, understanding reserve-based lending, and closing the trade finance gap through the role of development banks and global perspectives.

Through this seminar, Afreximbank reaffirms its commitment to supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and promoting innovative financing solutions to accelerate industrialization and boost intra-African trade.