Mrs Uju Uzo-Ojinnaka, the Chief Executive of African Trade Invest (ATI), says the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will increase the level of trade in the African continent.
Uzo-Ojinnaka said this during ATI Investors Meet and official launch on Thursday in Lagos.
ATI is a Pan African trade and investment company that has created a double pronged business model for funding and investing in African trade.
Its mission is to create a safe and reliable environment for making investors and genuine African businesses successful, while creating wealth for all stakeholders by facilitating African trade.
Uzo-Ojinnaka said that Nigeria’s signing into the AfCFTA agreement was a welcome development, pointing out that African countries incurred enormous losses due to difficulties in intra-African trade.
“If it goes well, it is good not just for Nigeria, but for the whole African continent.
“The ECOWAS single currency has been signed for a long time, but to do trade between Nigeria and Ghana is extremely difficult and we believe this agreement would address the situation,” she said.
Speaking on ATI business model, Uzo-Ojinnaka said that suppliers of various African products who had confirmed orders for their products backed by an acceptable payment terms could access funds for the execution of their orders.
“Through our strategic partners, we verify, supervise and upload updates on each project to ensure strict compliance and timely execution.
“Most importantly, investors receive weekly updates and can view project progress via their personal dashboard,” she said.
She said that ATI funded transactions of over one million dollars and paid out returns in excess of $860,000 in the last quarter.
Tobe Nnadozie, a Board member of ATI, said ATI would help Nigeria to achieve its dream of earning the much needed foreign exchange for the economy.
He urged Nigerians to support the ATI initiative, stressing that if more people came on board of the platform, Nigeria would raise more funds to take care of its national needs.
“We will save the country from wastage. The wastage that happens in many farms is very massive and there are lots of cooperatives who do not have buyers for their produce.
“So, if we have countries where we can shift all these things, we will make good money and the economy will benefit from it,” he said.
Nnadozie stressed the need for the government to shift away from hydrocarbon resources, stating that other climes had gone beyond relying on crude oil for foreign exchange.
“We need to replace oil as fast as we can and it should not be talk like many other countries are doing in Africa, but an action to solve that problem,” he advised.
