Cynthia Ezegwu
The outgoing President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, has reflected on a decade of transformative leadership during which the bank’s balance sheet and guarantees grew nearly eightfold — from $6 billion in 2015 to almost $44 billion in 2025.
Speaking at his valedictory conference in Cairo on Friday, Oramah said the expansion underscored Afreximbank’s resilience and its pivotal role 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 said, noting that shareholders also received an aggregate of about $1.4 billion in dividends between 2015 and 2024.
Oramah attributed the growth to a deliberate strategy that positioned intra-African trade and investment as the cornerstone of the bank’s philosophy, asserting that Africa’s economic liberation must be driven from within.
“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 said.
Over his tenure, Afreximbank spearheaded several landmark initiatives, including support 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 recognition of African currencies as legal tenders across borders.
The bank also created the $1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, hosted four editions of the Intra-African Trade Fair with $170 billion in trade and investment deals, and established the Africa Trade Gateway digital platform to simplify access to trade information.
According to Oramah, Afreximbank harmonised about 500 industrial standards, launched a collaborative transit guarantee scheme with $1 billion in limits, and financed key industrial projects, including 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 procure vaccines for Africa and the Caribbean.
Oramah also credited Afreximbank’s success to strong partnerships with African governments, central banks, and international institutions such as Standard Chartered, HSBC, SMBC, KfW, and AFD, noting that the bank mobilised and disbursed more than $155 billion over the past decade.
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Reflecting on his 31-year journey from joining the bank as one of its pioneer staff in 1994 to leading it as president, Oramah expressed gratitude to the institution’s shareholders, clients, and staff. He thanked African governments, partner banks, and development finance institutions for their support, as well as the Egyptian government for hosting the bank’s headquarters.
He described his successor, Dr. George Elombi, as “eminently prepared,” expressing confidence in his capacity to sustain the bank’s growth trajectory.
Elombi, who has served at the bank since 1996, lauded Oramah as “a rare leader who fused vision with execution,” crediting him with transforming Afreximbank into “Africa’s development supermarket.”
Dignitaries including Africa’s top business figures and policymakers attended the farewell event, among 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 leadership built enduring institutions and advanced the continent’s economic self-reliance.