Sun City, South Africa, 23rd June 2023 – At the 11th All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) held in South Africa, Afreximbank was named “African Company of the year” andPresident and Chairman of the Board of Directors, H.E Professor Benedict Oramah was recognized as the “Business Leader of the Year”. The award’s finale was celebrated at a Gala dinner at Sun City’s opulent King’s Ballroom.
The AABLA, Africa’s largest business awards, established in 2012, and organised in partnership with CNBC Africa, are designed to spotlight icons of leadership, perseverance, innovation, and accountability among those leading African businesses.
Afreximbank was recognized for being an industry leader, exemplifying financial, strategic and product excellence while demonstrating business standard and ethics. President Oramah, recognized as Business Leader of the Year – was celebrated as an individual whose leadership is long-termist, value generative, innovative, and above all, highlighting his integrity and a bold vision, not only for Afreximbank but for Africa more broadly.
Afreximbank’s award recognises the organisation’s efforts in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) via flagship initiatives that included the launch and implementation of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System to promote cross border trade in African currencies, and the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA), a $3 billion facility aimed at supporting African countries deal with the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Oramah’s receipt of this award reflects his accomplishments in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, and the empowering impact his work has had on the continent. The award recognises his influential leadership in the African banking sector and his vision to oversee a strong financial performance, successfully guiding Afreximbank to new heights in the industry during an unprecedented year.
Commenting on the purpose and significance of the AABLA, their founder Rakesh Wahi declared:
“The All Africa Business Leader Awards were born to honour ordinary men and women leaders, who despite all the challenges and disruption, have taken extraordinary decisions to lead their organizations to glory. Their success is not just in profitability but in championing transformation in all its forms, embracing change, adopting inclusivity, ensuring accountability, being environmentally sensitive and becoming role models to future generations of business leaders. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our finalists tonight. They along with our distinguished Alumni represent African leadership at its best.”
Commenting on his award, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Afreximbank H.E Professor Benedict Oramah said:
“I am highly elated to receive the award of “African Company of the Year” on behalf of the Board and Management of Afreximbank. The award comes on the heels of the Bank’s 30th-anniversary celebrations marked in Accra, Ghana, a few days ago. We receive this award not as a mark of our exceptionalism but as a reminder of the enormous responsibilities and possibilities ahead. While the modest contributions the Bank has made are anchored on clarity of vision, innovation, hard work and commitment to Africa, the road ahead will call for more of the same values and deliberate pursuit of a broad-based partnership and understanding; the kind of 4 opportunity this award and associated ceremony offers. It is also with great pleasure and utmost humility that I receive this highly valued award of “Business Leader of the Year”. I recognise fully that it is an honour bestowed through me to all my colleagues at Afreximbank who work every day to deliver on our mandate and aspirations.”
ENDS
About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2022, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$31 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.2 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$86 billion between 2016 and 2022. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”).
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com