Breeze, a startup that powers trade by providing financial services to supply chain businesses in Africa, has been selected for Finverty’s Emerging Leader’s Programme to accelerate providing African SMEs with access to trade finance.
Africa is a resource-rich continent with 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion, but it accounts for only 3% of global trade. The majority of trade participants in Africa are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but they lack sufficient support and resources to compete effectively in the global market, with larger companies having the upper hand and a larger share of the limited support and resources.
Breeze hopes to reduce Africa’s $120 billion annual trade finance deficit by distributing capital to small and medium-sized businesses. Only 28% of the total trade finance portfolio of African banks benefits SMEs, while the vast majority of trade financing goes to larger corporations.
Finverity is Europe’s fastest-growing SCF company and a leader in supply chain finance and factoring solutions for emerging markets. Their mission is to close the $3.5 trillion global trade finance gap, and they have decided to collaborate with local industry experts.
The partnership between Breeze and Finverity was possible through Finverity’s Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP). The program aims to identify, nurture, and grow the future generation of local trade finance leaders in emerging markets. Breeze was selected and onboarded into the ELP, and as part of the program, Finverity provides its market-leading Supply Chain Finance Platform, introductions to debt capital providers in their network, shares its legal infrastructure templates, and assists in the creation of best practice processes and procedures.
Alex Fenechiu, Co-Founder and COO at Finverity commented:
“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. It is these very institutions who have tasked us with identifying and nurturing organizations that can truly make an impact in their local markets. We are pleased to work with the team at Breeze to improve the Trade Finance landscape in Nigeria.”
Breeze CEO Chimenem Nnwoka stated, “This partnership provides us with the necessary fuel and support as we strengthen our presence in Nigeria.” “Our partnership with Finverity enables us to provide modular supply chain finance products that are tailored to the specific needs of our customers,” he added.
In addition to trade finance, Breeze provides solutions for every stage of the trade process. Our banking solution allows businesses to send money across borders, trade securely with multiple insurance options, and gain access to cross-border logistics support.
Increasing Africa’s share of global trade is the first step toward putting the continent on the path of economic growth and development. Breeze is powering trade by building technology that will allow more businesses to compete effectively in the global market. Get started now at breeze.africa.
