African Trade Invest, ATI, a pan African digital trade and investment platform launched a digital app to build and solve the lack of trust faced among investors, buyers and sellers in Africa.
The App which was unveiled on August 1, 2019, is meant to make payment systems seamless and make life easier for traders.
The event was well attended by notable people in the society like Emmanuel Ikazoboh, Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Inc, Peter Bamkole Director, EDC Pan Atlantic University and MD’s and CEO’s of Capital and Investment companies.
Uju Uzo, CEO, African Trade Invest said, “A lot of trade in Africa is still done informally and most buyers and sellers prefer to deal in cash and not the documentation processes. So we are trying to make them trust us. We want people to change the narrative of how they see Nigeria. Most times they don’t trust us because of the mistakes done by others.”
“We have built credibility overtime and people see what we have done by connecting sellers and buyers together,”Uzo further said.
According to a 2019 African trade report, Africa’s contribution to global trade remains marginal at 2.6 percent, up from 2.4 percent in 2017, and that, while intra-African trade rose to 16 percent in 2018 from five percent in 1980, it remains low compared to intra-regional trade in Europe and Asia.
“The app enables you to invest in what you want to. Formally, you will just bring in funds and Traders of Africa will help you to invest. And a number of people don’t talk about interest but share of profit. So you can target what you want to invest in and you can also monitor your investments. You don’t need to communicate to know how far your investment has gone or is going,” Tobe Nnadozie, Board Member, ATI said.
Group Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Inc, Emmanuel Ikazoboh while giving his keynote speech on the importance and barriers to Trade in Africa said, “The major challenge in Africa is capital. We do not have enough liquidity. Therefore we must try to encourage businesses that are trying to look at Africa and also give them the financial support that they need.”
Also the company, ATI was formally launched on the same day as the App launch. ATI’s mission is to create a safe and reliable environment for making investors and genuine African Businesses successful and its vision is to create wealth for all stakeholders by facilitating African Trade.
The company said, “Suppliers of various African products who have confirmed orders for their products backed by an acceptable payment term can access funds for the execution of their orders; we call the orders projects.”
“Upon project verification, these funding needs are broken down into units and the units are offered to members of the public to invest. Presently, investment may be in Nigerian Naira or United States Dollars. Investors can earn a Share of Profit (SOP) as high as 7.5 percent quarterly on naira investments and 5 percent quarterly on dollar Investments which amount to 30 percent and 20 percent respectively annually,” It further said.
The company also said that investors can take advantage of premium investments on the app. Which is available for a minimum of 6 months and attracts an extra 1 percent and 2.5 percent for 12 months in addition to 7.5 percent quarterly and 30 percent annual Share of Profit (SOP).
Prior to Launch, ATI has funded transactions in excess of $1millon and paid out returns in excess of $860,000 in the last quarter.
The Platform is currently open to suppliers of various African products with confirmed orders in need of funding. Suppliers can go about this by requesting for funds on ATI website after completing their registration on the platform.
ATI has a sister company of Traders of Africa (TOFA), pan African B2B online marketplace for products grown, produced or manufactured in Africa ONLY.
TOFA was launched on September 1, 2017 with about 9,000 suppliers from 5 countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria. Presently the platform has over 15,000 suppliers from various African countries.
