Ecobank Nigeria, Meet lead virtual regional trade conference speakers-

Ecobank Nigeria has announced lead speakers for its Regional Trade Conference. They include Mr. Segun Awolowo, Executive Director/ Chief Executive, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Tei Konzi, Commissioner of Trade, Customs and Free Movement of Persons of the ECOWAS and Tedd George, Founder and Chief Narrative Officer, Kleos Advisory. Others are Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Patrick Akinwuntan Managing Director/ Regional Executive, Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

According to the bank Segun Awolowo is currently driving the Zero Oil plan as an economic blueprint for Nigeria. The Zero Oil is a part of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), a medium-term plan developed by the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning to increase the country’s export by increasing production of home made goods, moving from the export of raw materials to value added products thereby increase foreign exchange revenue, promote the value of Nigerian made products and services abroad, and create jobs. It aims at generating $30billion in foreign exchange earnings.

Tei Konzi, Commissioner of Trade, Customs And Free Movement of Persons of the ECOWAS is a trainer and Consultant for the popularization of ECOWAS Common External Tariff(CET) and other instruments of integration of the ECOWAS and West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). while Tedd George, Founder and Chief Narrative Officer, Kleos Advisory, has more than 20 years of experience researching and working in African markets. Tedd advises on fintech & Agritech projects in Africa, notably in West Africa’s cocoa value chain, and also  regularly appears as chairman, speaker and moderator on the world conference and webinar circuit and as a commentator in the media. Tedd has a diverse range of specialties, including African markets, disruptive technology (Fintech, blockchain, Agritech & Regtech), soft commodities (especially cocoa), agribusiness (value chain), trade and trade finance.

Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has a long, illustrious, and very successful career with Citigroup spanning 27 years, where he held various diverse, enriching, and senior roles. Ade continued to excel in the various roles and challenges he was given, becoming CEO Sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for all Citigroup’s business in 11 presence and 27 non presence countries. Also on ground will be Patrick Akinwuntan Managing Director/ Regional Executive, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, who prior to this appointment was the Group Executive, Consumer Banking at Ecobank Group where he was responsible for leading the Consumer Banking business across Ecobank’s global network of 40 countries, 36 of which are in Africa. As a seasoned banker, with over 20 years of senior and executive management experience, Patrick has held several strategic positions for the Ecobank Group in Ghana, Togo, and Nigeria. He had previously been a Group Executive Director on the Board of ETI and earlier as Executive Director in Ecobank Nigeria.

The Ecobank Regional Virtual Trade Conference with the theme “Facilitating Regional Trade in the emerging AFCFTA era” is slated for the 22nd of September, 2020 and will provide an opportunity for exporters and importers within Africa to engage, creating a marketplace experience.

Speaking in Lagos, Sunday Abah, Head, Trade Finance, Ecobank Nigeria stated that due to its unrivalled footprint across Africa, Ecobank is uniquely positioned to facilitate cross border trade within the region leveraging its comprehensive trade solutions and various payment methods available across its network within Africa.  According to him, “Ecobank’s unique intra-Africa trade solutions enable settlements of international transactions and mitigation of payment risk while providing regional solutions such as issuance of payment guarantees to exporters without the need for a letter of credit and its related costs to the importer. Ecobank works closely with clients in structuring transactions, settlements, financing and risk mitigation” he noted.

Further, he said “Our trade products and solutions are designed around two broad areas; trade finance and trade services. Trade Finance enables our customers benefit from adequate and well mitigated credit facilitation in the area of Import finance, export finance, bill discounting, trade loans, distributor finance, payables and receivables finance, structured trade and commodity finance amongst others while our trade services, offer our customers the advantage of speedy turn around and error free processing of their import letter of credits, import collections, avalised bills, Customs bonds, export collections as well as their local purchase orders and payment invoices, via our electronic trade platforms OMNI e-Trade and OMNI eFSC (electronic financial supply chain).