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Three-year partnership will combine trade finance, insurance and reinsurance expertise to build skills across African markets
AFRICA NEWS | ISAAC KHISA | The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and ZEP-RE have signed a three-year agreement to strengthen professional and institutional capacity in trade, insurance, reinsurance, risk management and trade facilitation across Africa.
The memorandum of understanding brings together Afreximbank Academy (AFRACAD) and ZEP-RE Academy to develop training, research and knowledge programmes aimed at building skills to support cross-border trade and investment.
The agreement was signed at ZEP-RE’s offices in Nairobi on Sept.16 by Stephen Tio Kauma, Group Managing Director, Human Resources at Afreximbank, and Jephita Gwatipedza, Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at ZEP-RE.
The partnership will combine Afreximbank’s expertise in African trade and trade finance with ZEP-RE’s experience in insurance, reinsurance and risk management.
“Africa’s ability to expand trade and investment depends on more than financial resources and infrastructure. It also depends on knowledge, skills and institutional capacity across our markets,” Kauma said.
“Our partnership with ZEP-RE brings together complementary expertise in trade finance, insurance, reinsurance and risk management.”
“By combining these strengths, we can build practical, scalable and Global Africa-focused learning and knowledge solutions that equip professionals and institutions with the skills and knowledge to drive greater trade and investment across the continent,” Kauma added.
Key focus areas
Under the agreement, which may be renewed by mutual agreement, the two institutions will work across three areas.
They will jointly develop digital learning content, including e-learning courses, toolkits and African case studies, through a “content factory” that will identify priorities and develop structured learning materials.
The content will be distributed through AFRACAD’s digital learning platform and ZEP-RE Academy’s learning management system.
The institutions will also develop professional and executive programmes covering risk and reinsurance, trade guarantees, trade facilitation, financial infrastructure and market development.
The programmes will include short courses, executive masterclasses and certification programmes delivered in person, virtually or through blended formats.
A third area will focus on research and knowledge creation through joint studies, webinars, policy dialogues and industry forums involving practitioners, regulators, development partners and private-sector leaders.
Gwatipedza said the partnership would strengthen the ability of African institutions to understand and manage risks associated with expanding trade.
“Trade cannot expand sustainably unless the institutions that finance and facilitate it can also understand, price and manage the risks involved,” he said.
“This partnership will connect trade finance with insurance and reinsurance expertise, helping to build stronger institutional capability across African markets.”
The success of the partnership, Gwatipedza said, “will ultimately be measured not by the number of programmes delivered, but by whether professionals and institutions are better equipped to support Africa’s evolving trade and investment landscape.”
Trans-Africa Bond Alliance
The agreement builds on an existing partnership between Afreximbank and ZEP-RE. In 2025, the two institutions launched the Trans-Africa Bond Alliance (TABA) to strengthen insurance capacity, facilitate cross-border trade and support the movement of goods and investment across Africa.
Since starting operations in June 2025, TABA has supported about $185 million in bonds in 2025 and $280 million in the first quarter of 2026, with risks originating from 24 cedents across five countries.
TABA supports Afreximbank’s African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme (AACTGS) and the wider African Continental Free Trade Area trade facilitation agenda through a technology-enabled approach to transit guarantees across African borders.
The wider scheme has $1 billion in guarantee limits, including a $300 million facility being implemented with ZEP-RE in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa region.
The initiative aims to reduce reliance on multiple national transit bonds, release working capital tied up as collateral and improve the predictability of cross-border trade.
The new agreement extends that cooperation into capacity building, focusing on the technical skills and institutional knowledge needed to support increasingly complex trade, insurance and risk-management transactions.
