Ecobank Group and the AfCFTA Secretariat have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at boosting intra-African trade and addressing the continent’s growing trade finance gap, with a strong focus on small businesses, women-led enterprises and young entrepreneurs.
Announced in a press release on Thursday, the agreement creates a strategic framework to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which seeks to establish a single African market serving more than 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of about $3.4 trillion.
The partnership builds on Ecobank’s recent $3 billion trade finance commitment announced at the Africa-Forward Summit in Nairobi. The funding, expected to be rolled out over the next three years in collaboration with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), is intended to improve access to financing for African businesses engaged in cross-border trade.
Under the new agreement, the AfCFTA Secretariat will help direct the funding toward businesses that have traditionally struggled to secure trade finance, including SMEs, informal traders and larger corporates operating across borders.
Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, said affordable trade finance remains essential to unlocking the full potential of the free trade area.
He noted that the partnership with Ecobank would strengthen support systems for African businesses, particularly SMEs, women-led enterprises and young entrepreneurs, enabling them to participate more actively in regional trade and continental value chains.
For Ecobank, which operates in 34 African countries, the agreement reinforces its long-standing commitment to regional integration and economic development.
Michael Larbie, Group Executive for Corporate and Investment Banking at Ecobank, said the bank’s extensive African footprint and digital capabilities positioned it to play a leading role in advancing the goals of the AfCFTA.
He said the MoU formalises Ecobank’s commitment to connecting African businesses with markets, financing opportunities and trade knowledge needed to expand across the continent.
Under the partnership, both institutions will collaborate in several key areas, including building the capacity of SMEs, promoting Ecobank’s Ellevate Programme for women-led businesses, improving access to market information through the bank’s Single Market Trade Hub, and facilitating business connections through the AfCFTA Trading Companies database.
The agreement will also support joint policy advocacy aimed at reducing non-tariff barriers and easing cross-border payment challenges, while both organisations plan to co-host forums and high-level discussions on AfCFTA implementation.
The MoU comes at a time when the AfCFTA, which officially became operational in 2021, continues to face challenges such as payment bottlenecks, regulatory inconsistencies and limited access to affordable trade finance for smaller businesses.
By combining the AfCFTA Secretariat’s mandate with Ecobank’s continental network and financial commitment, the partnership is expected to increase African participation in intra-African trade and support the broader goals of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision.
Although no specific implementation timeline has been announced, both parties said work under the agreement will begin immediately.