George Elombi, who was inaugurated on Saturday 25, as the new President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), stated that over the next five to ten years, he will prioritise promoting and accelerating value addition and strategic mineral processing, deepening intra-African trade and regional integration, and building critical trade-enabling infrastructure. The Cameroonian national also plans to leverage innovation and digital technology to create new opportunities for trade, mobilise global African capital, grow the bank’s financial strength, and expand strategic and innovative partnerships. On value addition for mineral processing, Elombi highlighted that the bank plans to establish a ‘Strategic Minerals Development Programme’ to finance value chains, from extraction and refining, to manufacturing finished components. “We will work to stop the export of raw potential. By transforming what we produce, building regional value chains, and fostering homegrown industries, we can create jobs, retain wealth, and drive growth across the continent,” he said during the Investiture Ceremony in Cairo, Egypt. “We will focus on developing strategic industries that can drive industrialisation and job creation,” he added, indicating that the continent cannot afford to keep exporting raw lithium from the Democratic Republic of Congo, or raw bauxite from Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon or South Africa. “Afreximbank will, therefore, create a new, high-impact financing window specifically for projects that process raw minerals into semi-finished goods or finished goods,” he pledged. Elombi, who replaces Professor Benedict Oramah, maintained that the success of value addition agenda will ultimately depend on the ability to secure markets for the goods the continent produces, suggesting that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a vital platform for advancing value addition and export manufacturing. “We will intensify efforts to break down trade barriers, strengthen cross-border infrastructure, and foster seamless movement of goods, services, people, and capital across our continent,” he noted. This, he added, will be achieved through scaling existing initiatives such as the Africa Trade Gateway(ATG) digital market ecosystem, and new initiatives such as the ATG-AfCFTA Accelerator Programme. Through ATG-AfCFTA Accelerator Programme, the bank will provide direct technical support, market intelligence, and tailored financing to help African SMEs navigate the complexities of cross-border trade and truly benefit from the continental free trade area. On the other hand, Elombi observed that it was important to build critical trade-enabling infrastructure, indicating that a fragmented and dilapidated infrastructure network from roads and railways to ports, and power grids remains a major bottleneck to intra-African trade and a significant driver of the high logistics costs on our continent. “We will accelerate investments in critical trade-enabling infrastructure projects that directly facilitate trade and connect African markets to one another,” he said. “This includes not just highways and rail lines, but also modernized seaports, expanded warehousing and inland container depots, renewable energy projects, and specialized logistics hubs and energy pipelines.” A key initiative under Elombi’s leadership will be the creation of a ‘Shared Integrated Infrastructure Ecosystem for Trade,’ aimed at leveraging existing trade-enabling infrastructure capacity cost-effectively. “Instead of each country building from scratch, we will catalyse the expansion of infrastructure in countries with ample capacity to serve neighboring nations that lack the resources to develop such facilities independently,” he remarked, adding that this collaborative approach ensures that all countries, regardless of their current capacity, benefit from improved market access, enhanced connectivity, and lower trade costs. Mobilising capital Although Afreximbank has built a capacity for internal capital generation, Elombi indicated that fresh capital injection will help rapidly expand and accelerate the Bank’s contribution to the continent’s economic transformation. “Too often, African wealth – whether held by our diaspora, our businesses, or our own governments’ sovereign funds – is invested elsewhere in the world,” he observed. “We will intensify efforts to connect this vast pool of capital from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, diaspora investors, or private equity back to Africa’s growth.” Elombi indicated that Afreximbank will create innovative financial instruments, trusted co-investment platforms, and a pipeline of bankable African projects that allow African capital to flow into African opportunities. “This is not just about financing—it is about ownership and about redefining the narrative of African development. It is time for Africa’s wealth—wherever it resides—to work for Africa’s future.” According to the new President, Afreximbank’s shareholders set out a goal to grow the bank’s balance sheet to $250 billion within ten years. But he said it was even possible to aspire to reach $350 billion. “This, therefore, is not just about numbers. It is a call for impact, for a momentous change. It reflects a sense of urgency among our heads of state to build a financially strong and globally relevant African institution,” he noted. “It also demonstrates the deep trust and confidence they have in Afreximbank as a systemic institution for Africa’s development, one they are committed to supporting under all circumstances,” he added.
