BUSINESS LEADERS WANT ACCESS TO FINANCE TO SMEs

Business captains in the East African region have made a passionate appeal to access finance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This would not only enhance their productive capacity but enable the enterprises in question to tap the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) market.

"The launch of Mansa is set to enhance the preparedness of youth, women and SMEs in Tanzania to trade under the AfCFTA", said Justine Marwa, the president of Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Trade (TCCIA).

Ms Maureen Mba, head of Mansa Repository Platform said the platform would give tools that would enable SMEs to leverage on the AfCFTA opportunities.

These include the Africa Entity Identifier (AEI) code, she said last week during the launching of the facility in Dar es Salaam.

Mansa Africa Due Diligence Platform and Pan African Payment and the African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and Trade Information Portal were among the innovative solutions put in place by Afreximbank to transform trade in Africa.

"Afreximbank strategic pillars are geared to boost intra-Africa trade, industrialization, export development and trade finance", Ms Mba pointed out. 

The platform provides a single primary source of Know Your Customer (KYC) information and links investors and business partners together. 

It has a special focus on African  corporates, SMEs and financial institutions

Speaking at the launch, Mr. John Bosco Kalisa, the East African Business Council (EABC) executive director said in 2020, Tanzania exports to Africa stood at $ 2.27 billion, an 11.8 percent increase from $2.03 billion in 2019.

He urged the EAC bloc to align trade policy, eliminate of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and ease access to trade finance for  the SMEs.

Paul Makanza, the chairman of Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) said, intra-Africa trade was still low at approximately 16.6 percent of total Africa exports to the globe.

He stated that timely information and trust between buyers & sellers is important in trading and lauded the Mansa Platform for providing Know Your Customer Information.

 

Mr.Makanza, appreciated the EAC Heads of State for ratifying the AfCFTA and called upon the Tanzania private sector to seize the moment and opportunities availed by the 1.2 billion continental market.

 

Mr. Charles Itembe said Mansa provides due diligence data critical for the financial institutions to offer finance for businesses and trade integration in Africa.