Nigerian startup Breeze has partnered with U.K.-based supply chain finance company Finverity to accelerate its mission of providing small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Africa with access to trade finance.
The startup has been selected for Finverity’s Emerging Leaders Programme, which aims to nurture the next generation of local trade finance leaders in emerging markets, according to a Monday (Oct. 31) press release.
“The Emerging Leaders Programme was created to equip the leaders of tomorrow with the tools and knowledge required to collaborate with global institutions and thus provide more access to cheaper finance with less headache,” Finverity Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Alex Fenechiu said in the release. “It is these very institutions who have tasked us with identifying and nurturing organizations that can truly make an impact in their local markets.”
As part of the program, Finverity will provide Breeze with resources such as its supply chain finance platform, introductions to debt capital providers, legal infrastructure templates and best practices, according to the press release.
Breeze aims to distribute capital to SMBs in Africa, solving the continent’s “$120 billion annual trade finance deficit” that exists because most of African banks’ trade financing goes to larger corporations, even though the majority of trade participants in the region are SMBs, the release stated.
“This partnership provides us with the necessary fuel and support as we strengthen our presence in Nigeria,” Breeze CEO Chimenem Nnwoka said in the release. “Our partnership with Finverity enables us to provide modular supply chain finance products that are tailored to the specific needs of our customers.”
In related news, as PYMNTS reported Oct. 18, projects aimed at building a more autonomous pan-African economy, many of them under the rubric of the African Union, are seeking to secure a more prosperous future for Africans.
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