By ebosele@hotmail.com –
The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Access Africa Office, which coordinates the African subsidiaries of Access Bank Plc, have entered into a three-year partnership aimed at improving access to finance, markets and skills for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across 14 African countries.
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, will begin with a pilot programme in Ghana from September 2026 to June 2027, with women-led businesses receiving priority.
The 14 countries covered by the initiative are Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
The collaboration seeks to address persistent challenges faced by African SMEs, particularly limited access to finance, markets and business development skills. SMEs account for a significant share of employment across the continent but often struggle to secure the resources required to expand and compete.
Under the partnership, ITC and Access Bank will focus on five priority areas: job creation through SMEs; access to finance, particularly for women- and youth-owned businesses; SME business sustainability; capacity building, including digital trade skills; and access to markets, with emphasis on intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The initiative also supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 on Gender Equality, 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth, and 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
During the pilot phase, ITC’s existing digital learning tools and training-of-trainers programmes will be deployed in collaboration with Access Africa Office staff. The programme is expected to expand from 2027 to additional countries and programmes, including advanced training on sustainability standards and digital marketplace tools.
Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, said access to finance remains a major barrier to trade for small businesses across Africa.
“Access to finance is the biggest barrier to trade faced [by] small businesses across Africa. We’re working with Access Bank to tackle this challenge and accompany the enterprises as we equip them with the knowledge, networks and market connections they need to grow,” she said.
Executive Director, African Subsidiaries at Access Bank, Seyi Kumapayi, said financing alone was insufficient to enable SMEs to scale, stressing the importance of combining capital with market access and trade-ready skills.
“We see every day that finance alone does not get a small business to scale. It is the combination of capital, market access and trade-ready skills that makes the difference,” Kumapayi said.
He added that the partnership would combine Access Bank’s reach across African markets with ITC’s expertise in knowledge, networks and market connections, beginning with women-led enterprises and small businesses in Ghana.
Access Bank operates across Africa through a network of more than 700 branches in 25 countries across three continents and serves over 63 million customers.
The partnership is expected to support greater financial inclusion, strengthen SME capabilities and create opportunities for increased intra-African trade as participating businesses gain improved access to finance, skills and regional markets.
