Nigerian SMEs, others urged to utlilize Ecobank’s ‘One Single Market Trade Hub’ for improved business
By OLA MODUPE, Lagos –
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country have been urged to make use of the Single Market Trade Hub introduced by Ecobank Nigeriafor the purpose of connecting their businesses to others outside Nigeria.
Ecobank’s Executive Director (Commercial Banking), Kola Adeleke, who gave the advice in Lagos, noted that over 4000 businesses in 33 countries were already connected and were benefiting from the synergies provided by the Single Market Trade Hub.
Describing the bank’s Single Market Trade Hub as a cutting-edge digital platform designed to respond to the evolving trading needs of SMEs and corporates within Africa’s single market, Adeleke added that the hub was live and that it not only connects traders across Africa, within the 1.4 billion-people single-market framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it also serves as an exchange and information repository for cross-border commerce.
According to Adeleke, Hub provides a gateway to explore and access continental trade opportunities across Africa, and that the bank has invested in making the platform more convenient to use through digital customer onboarding and more cost effective through access to better pricing.
He said: “African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has created an immense opportunity for African businesses, and as the pan-African bank with the most extensive coverage of Africa, Ecobank is perfectly placed to provide trade, information and payment solutions to support SMEs and corporates seeking to capitalise on the single market.”
Specifically, he said the hub provides Trade and Payment Solutions, as a gateway into Ecobank’s full range of digital products, including trade finance services, cash management solutions, domestic and cross-border payments and collections, investment banking, Capex financing, and more.
Beyond that, it also functions as an online match-making platform, enabling importers and exporters to create their company profiles, showcase their goods and services, source suppliers and connect with buyers and suppliers across Africa.
Being an AfCFTA expert, Ecobankcuses the Hub as a valuable repository of knowledge and information on the African Continental Free Trade Area, to help SMEs and corporates to familiarise themselves with the single market and ways to expand their trade into new African markets.
Adeleke noted that Ecobank Nigeria only hosted ‘Adire Lagos Experience’ with over 100 Adire vendors, where the bank committed to profile the merchants on the Trade Hub and position them so that they will be able to export their products to other countries in Africa and beyond.
This, according to the ED, would not only boost the export potential of the locally produced textile, leveraging the AfCFTA, but also support the merchants to build capacity, help them improve the quality of whatever they are producing for export purposes and ultimately ensure that Adire becomes an African brand with global acclaim.
(With a report by City BusinessNews)