“Africa Has the People, the Expertise, and the Resources”

Sean Edwards, Chairman of the International Trade Forfaiting Association (ITFA)

At the MCB Trade Week, Sean Edwards, Chairman of the International Trade Forfaiting Association (ITFA), shared his views on Africa’s trade dynamics, Mauritius’ potential as a regional hub, and the transformational role of technology and supply chain finance. In this interview, he discusses the most significant insights from the event, explains why Africa should look inward, and outlines the crucial steps needed to move up the value chain.

What would you say are the most significant insights from the MCB Trade Week?

Firstly, if you’re a corporate, you need a strong, innovative partner. Someone who understands the full range of available tools and technology, especially for credit risk management. That includes bringing in other banks, credit risk insurers, and knowing how to manage all that risk effectively. You need someone who’s open to the best of European and global banking techniques, but also someone who understands local business realities on the ground in Africa, and is willing to invest there.

How do you assess the potential of intra-African trade?

I think it has tremendous potential. The manufacturing base is currently very low. As we’ve noted several times, Africa consists of 54 countries, each with its own border. That’s a major challenge. Logistics and infrastructure remain problematic. The lack of a single currency or payment system adds another layer of difficulty. However, digitalisation brings new opportunities – things we simply couldn’t do before. The region is becoming more politically stable. And globally, there’s a trend toward inward-looking policies – Trump’s actions encouraged that in the US, and we’ve seen it in Europe as well. Africa needs to do the same. It has the people, the skills, the land, the commodities – it has so much potential. I’m genuinely excited about it.

You also mentioned that Africa, from an export perspective, doesn’t need to worry too much about developments in the US. Could you elaborate?

Yes. Africa doesn’t need to focus too heavily on exporting to the US. The US accounts for about 11% of world trade. The use of the US dollar is more significant than the US as a trading partner. Africa itself represents around 3% of global trade, so any shocks affect countries differently. But elsewhere, like in China, we’re seeing efforts to diversify trading partners. Europe is still the world’s largest trading bloc. So, Africa should look to do more with Europe, China, and Asia in general. The US is sometimes convenient, especially for dollar-denominated commodities, but for many industrial goods, it’s less relevant.

How do you view Mauritius as a hub linking to Africa?

Hubs are incredibly important today. The UAE has developed a very strong one. Africa doesn’t really have a dedicated hub yet – maybe a small one in the UAE, but that’s not ideal. Mauritius, however, has the stability, human capital, and expertise to be that hub. It’s already something of an offshore centre, particularly for South Africa, but that’s not the same as being a trade hub. Logistics infrastructure could be improved, but as a financial hub, Mauritius definitely has the potential. Stability and expertise are key, and what they’re doing at MCB – bringing people together – is a great step forward. Mauritius has so much more to offer beyond just being a conduit for South African capital.

“Africa should look to do more with Europe, China, and Asia in general”

The figure you mentioned – 3% of global trade – is surprisingly low. How can Africa move up the value chain?

The answer is simple: value addition. But execution is the hard part. A lot comes down to transforming raw commodities into finished products. Take bauxite, for instance – exporting it brings in relatively little, but refining it into aluminium creates much greater value. So, building industrial capacity is critical. Look at Dangote: they started with cement and are now expanding into sugar refining and processing. That’s the kind of transformation needed.

This ties into the trend of looking inward, which was partly driven by US tariffs. Countries are now thinking: “Why don’t we do this ourselves?” But unless we move beyond the idea phase into real execution – especially in goods manufacturing – we’ll stay stuck in the dream stage. To succeed, you need infrastructure, political and economic stability, and better payment systems. But in such a vast continent, even those basics are difficult to put in place.

Could you walk us through the key points of your presentation?

I spoke about technology – particularly digitalisation. It’s relatively easy to implement, and very accessible, just like AI, which anyone with a smartphone can now use. It’s democratic in that sense. But having access doesn’t guarantee effective use. If you’re asking trivial questions, you’re missing the point. There’s real potential there that hasn’t been fully explored yet.

I also touched on supply chain finance, which is more developed in Europe and the US, but increasingly relevant for Africa. A lot of the discussion was about accessing liquidity in hard currencies – mainly USD and EUR. But beyond that, it’s about creating a full credit ecosystem: extending payment terms, offering trade credit, reverse factoring, payables finance, receivables finance…

For example, countries like Bangladesh export textiles and hold a lot of receivables from large retailers. But the payables side is just as important. There’s also inventory finance, financing goods stored in warehouses – techniques that are underutilized. Trade is becoming an attractive asset class. In my association, we’re seeing growing interest in trade as an investment – it’s safer than equities and often pays better than cash. All this is made more feasible with digitalisation. MCB, with the right vision, can play a key role in bringing it all together.

And finally, what will you be taking home from this Trade Week?

Besides a bottle of Dodo rum? (laughs) What I’ll take home is the realization that it’s pioneers like MCB that truly make a difference. People with vision, who assemble the right expertise and resources to turn ideas into action. Hats off to the bank!