Afreximbank Releases $100 million Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA)
On February 3rd, 2019 the Board of Directors of Afreximbank set up Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) during the meeting held in Cairo, Egypt. FEDA is a subsidiary of the Africa Export-Import Bank that will provide seed capital to companies in agribusiness, manufacturing, consumer and retail, financial services, technology, travel & tourism, logistics and industrial parks. This development was set up to implement the bank’s Equity Investment Program with focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.
The objective of FEDA is to provide equity capital and related financial, non-financial and support services for intra-Africa trade and to support foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent.
During the meeting, Professor Benedict Oramah, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FEDA and president of Afreximbank said that the fund would expand Afreximbank’s offerings to include vital equity investments that would boost intra-African trade.
The $100 million initial commitment will leverage on the role Afreximbank has played in mobilizing trade finance into Africa. “A feasibility study conducted for Afreximbank had identified a funding gap which was inhibiting intra-African trade. FEDA had been set up to provide equity and to leverage FDI to help close that gap. Afreximbank sets to invest the initial sum of $10 million and an additional $450 million in FDI during the year” said Dr Philip Kamau, the CEO of FEDA.
Speaking in Tunis during the opening of the Financial Investment and Trade in Africa conference yesterday, Prof. Oramah said the vision of Afreximbank was to leverage $1 billion in support of FEDA and mobilize $4 billion in FDI in five years. He announced that Afeximbank was developing a platform that would make it possible for cross-border trade to occur in local currencies across Africa.
