Pan-African multilateral financial institution the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has launched the Afreximbank Academy (Afracad) – a learning, knowledge and networking hub designed to help advance African trade through capacity building and leadership.

Afracad was launched on October 3 in Kampala, Uganda, on the sidelines of the three-day Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar, by Afreximbank president and chairperson Professor Benedict Oramah and Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development economic affairs director Moses Kaggwa.

Afreximbank human resources director and global head Stephen Kauma said the establishment of the academy fulfils the capacity building dimension of the bank’s mandate.

“Afreximbank has been at the forefront of building the capacity of Africans on the continent and the diaspora in trade-related matters. In this regard, under the bank’s fifth strategic plan for the period 2016 to 2021, we planned to create a responsibility centre under which all our various capacity building initiatives would be housed,” he explained.

Kauma also indicated that the academy, which plans to train up to 100 000 people over the next ten years, offers up to 58 different learning opportunities and aims to unlock business opportunities by enhancing existing capacity and leadership, improving the trade environment across Africa and enabling the continent to compete globally.

The academy is posited to be a centre of excellence for capacity building in trade and the go-to hub for Afrocentric knowledge and African trade expertise.

Afracad provides high-impact learning solutions that cover trade and project finance; industrial capacity; innovation; leadership; trade language; and knowledge and networking.

It has already begun the process of obtaining regional accreditation, starting with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, while exploring and reaching out to other accreditation bodies.

The academy has also started implementing a proof of concept using the Certificate of Trade Finance in Africa programme, a flagship trade finance course, which Afracad runs with FCI and the American University in Cairo.

As part of the celebration held to launch the academy, Afracad offered a scholarship for one person to each institution participating in the 2022 Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar, covering 50% of the tuition fees for the 2023 course for the Certificate of Trade Finance in Africa.