Global bank Standard Chartered and the World Bank’s private-sector arm on Wednesday unveiled a US$300 million risk-sharing facility aimed at boosting trade and easing cash flow constraints for businesses across Africa.
The initiative, launched in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will support supply chain finance and trade transactions in eight countries, targeting sectors seen as critical to the continent’s economic growth, including agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing.
Under the agreement, IFC will provide guarantees of up to $150 million, allowing Standard Chartered to expand its lending capacity while mitigating risk. The facility is expected to unlock as much as $1.9 billion in trade flows over the next three years, benefiting more than 500 suppliers.
The programme will roll out in Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, reflecting a broad geographic spread across West, East and Southern Africa.
Supply chain finance — which allows suppliers to receive early payment on invoices — remains underdeveloped in many African markets, where businesses often face long payment cycles and limited access to affordable credit. Smaller firms in particular can struggle to secure financing, constraining their ability to scale operations or meet large orders.
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By sharing risk, the new facility is designed to encourage more lending into these segments, particularly in hard currency such as the U.S. dollar as well as selected local currencies. Faster payments to suppliers are expected to improve liquidity and strengthen business resilience, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“Access to working capital remains one of the most significant barriers to growth for businesses across Africa,” a representative involved in the programme said, adding that the partnership aims to “unlock financing where it is needed most.”
Analysts say the move reflects growing efforts by multilateral institutions and global banks to close Africa’s trade finance gap, which is estimated to run into hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The gap limits the ability of companies to participate fully in global and regional trade, despite rising demand for African goods and increasing policy focus on industrialisation.
The facility also comes at a time when African economies are seeking to strengthen intra-continental trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single market for goods and services across the continent. Improved access to trade finance is widely seen as essential to realising the pact’s potential.
For Standard Chartered, which has a long history of operations in Africa, the partnership provides a mechanism to expand its footprint in trade finance while managing exposure in markets that can carry higher risk.
The IFC, meanwhile, has been scaling up its use of risk-sharing instruments to mobilise private capital into emerging markets. In December 2024, it announced a separate $1 billion trade finance programme with HSBC covering regions including Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Industry observers note that such collaborations can have a multiplier effect, as guarantees from development finance institutions help crowd in commercial lenders that might otherwise be reluctant to extend credit.
If successful, the new facility could serve as a model for future partnerships aimed at strengthening supply chains and supporting business growth across developing economies.
While challenges remain — including currency volatility, regulatory hurdles and infrastructure gaps — stakeholders say initiatives like this are a step toward addressing structural financing constraints that have long hindered Africa’s economic potential.
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The first transactions under the programme are expected to begin rolling out in the coming months, offering suppliers earlier access to cash and helping stabilise supply chains in key industries.
As global economic uncertainty persists, the ability to maintain steady trade flows and support businesses at the base of supply chains is likely to remain a priority for both financial institutions and development partners operating on the continent.
