Cynthia Ezegwu
The outgoing President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, has mirrored on a decade of transformative management throughout which the {bank}’s stability sheet and ensures grew practically eightfold — from $6 billion in 2015 to nearly $44 billion in 2025.
Speaking at his valedictory convention in Cairo on Friday, Oramah stated the growth underscored Afreximbank’s resilience and its pivotal position in advancing Africa’s {economic} transformation.
“We kept a sharp focus on institutional strength and financial health and grew the balance sheet and guarantees almost eightfold,” he stated, noting that shareholders additionally acquired an combination of about $1.4 billion in dividends between 2015 and 2024.
Oramah attributed the expansion to a deliberate technique that positioned intra-African commerce and funding because the cornerstone of the {bank}’s philosophy, asserting that Africa’s {economic} liberation should be pushed from inside.
“When I assumed office in 2015, the continent faced a commodity crisis, setbacks in industrial transformation, and weak trade integration. Many doubted our broad agenda, but we fought on all fronts to make progress,” he stated.
Over his tenure, Afreximbank spearheaded a number of landmark initiatives, together with assist for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System backed by a $3 billion facility, and the popularity of African currencies as authorized tenders throughout borders.
The {bank} additionally created the $1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, hosted 4 editions of the Intra-African Trade Fair with $170 billion in commerce and funding offers, and established the Africa Trade Gateway digital platform to simplify entry to commerce data.
According to Oramah, Afreximbank harmonised about 500 industrial requirements, launched a collaborative transit assure scheme with $1 billion in limits, and financed key industrial initiatives, together with the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant.
He recalled the {bank}’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, disbursing over $10 billion in emergency interventions and $2 billion to acquire vaccines for Africa and the Caribbean.
Oramah additionally credited Afreximbank’s success to robust partnerships with African governments, central banks, and worldwide establishments comparable to Standard Chartered, HSBC, SMBC, KfW, and AFD, noting that the {bank} mobilised and disbursed greater than $155 billion over the previous decade.
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Reflecting on his 31-year journey from becoming a member of the {bank} as one in all its pioneer workers in 1994 to main it as president, Oramah expressed gratitude to the establishment’s shareholders, shoppers, and workers. He thanked African governments, accomplice banks, and growth finance establishments for his or her assist, in addition to the Egyptian authorities for internet hosting the {bank}’s headquarters.
He described his successor, Dr. George Elombi, as “eminently prepared,” expressing confidence in his capability to maintain the {bank}’s development trajectory.
Elombi, who has served on the {bank} since 1996, lauded Oramah as “a rare leader who fused vision with execution,” crediting him with remodeling Afreximbank into “Africa’s development supermarket.”
Dignitaries together with Africa’s high enterprise figures and policymakers attended the farewell occasion, amongst them billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, and former Afreximbank presidents Jean-Louis Ekra and Christopher Edordu.
They hailed Oramah as “Africa’s trade architect” whose management constructed enduring establishments and superior the continent’s {economic} self-reliance.
