By Elvis Ndunguru

East Africa, led by Kenya, is emerging as a powerful trade hub driven by infrastructure investment, regional integration and expanding intra-African trade. As a gateway for natural resources, it boasts rare earths, gold, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and other commodities the world needs.

Trade finance is the key to unlocking cross-border flows, supporting SMEs and enabling regional value chains, opening up economic benefits for the region.

As East African trade accelerates, better Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies have a stronger bearing on the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar, attracting capital movement. As stronger regional demand reshapes trade patterns, increased urbanisation and population growth are driving intra-African trade in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), construction materials, and processed goods. Improving macro-stability boosts investability as better fiscal and monetary management emerge.

But global flows demand dependence on solid infrastructure. As corridor-led infrastructure unlocks trade flows, investments in establishing ports, rail, and roads enable trade in new ways. For example, the Port of Mombasa and the Standard Gauge Railway are reducing transit times and connecting important inland markets like Uganda and Rwanda. Regional integration is being driven particularly under the East African Community (EAC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), resulting in lowered tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Between South Tanzania and North Kenya, strategically placed ports improve both inter- and intra-continental trade flow. To bolster regional connectivity, Tanzania will spend 12 trillion shillings (TZS) on port expansions. Meanwhile, the $1.4 billion Tazara (Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority)  Railway rehabilitation is underway. Kenya is investing in rail, and a new fuel pipeline is being established from Uganda to Tanzania. The Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway is indeed positioned to complement and strategically link with the Lobito Corridor, even though they originate in different parts of the continent. The strategic connection lies in creating a transcontinental logistics network for DRC: goods (especially critical minerals like copper and cobalt) can move more efficiently across Africa, either east to Indian Ocean markets or west to Atlantic routes. This reduces reliance on single export routes, improves resilience, and enhances intra-African trade under frameworks like the African Continental Free Trade Area.

 These developments give life to new trade flows, like transporting fuel from Uganda to the Middle East, or moving copper from Congo to China.

In the SADC and EAC regions, comprising over half a billion people, the demand for goods and services, including fuel, is significant. Regional agreements must be fostered to harmonise customs, tariffs, regulations, and the movement of goods, people and services.  Frameworks like the EAC Customs Union and AfCFTA have reduced tariffs, but the system is often plagued by border delays and inconsistent enforcement, which dilute the impact of trade.

If banks with trade finance capabilities, including institutions like Absa with a growing pan-African footprint, support infrastructure development, this will boost connectivity, lower transport costs, and improve trade opportunities.  Currently, it’s cheaper to move goods from China to Dar es Salaam than to transport them from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, a region within Tanzania.

Trade finance is most impactful in sectors with predictable cross-border demand, such as agriculture, energy, and FMCG. Structured trade finance and supply chain finance help large corporates extend terms to suppliers, indirectly supporting SME participation.

The East African economy is largely driven by SMEs. In Tanzania, 96% of our economy depends on SMEs, but they lack funding to support themselves. The majority are trade-based, with imports from the Middle East, China, India, and others, and exports like minerals or agri-commodities to other parts of the world. While banks can help support SMEs, the locals must also support them to benefit the local market.

Besides raising capital, risk perception and informality are constraints to their success. Better credit data with digital identities and scalable guarantee schemes backed by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) helps to mitigate risk. While simplified, digital trade finance products are now available, these are still limited. Anchor-led eco-systems with stronger linkage to large corporates are manifesting in the mining, FMCG, manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

DFIs, as key stakeholders, can work alongside financial institutions to help enhance trade routes. While it might be difficult for them to be on the ground, they can collaborate with the banks in certain markets within the continent to extend their reach.

To help with digitisation, we must empower fintechs to enable much stronger platforms. In Tanzania, SME customers work together to collaborate on small platforms to submit bulk orders to China. There’s strength in numbers.

Banks have the capabilities to support trade flows and payments via digitisation in areas like Ethiopia and the DRC. While some markets like DRC are high-risk, our competitors are growing there. Last year, a regional bank made 30% of its profit in Congo, for example. We can find safe ways to play in those markets, selecting the sectors in which we can perform.

Banks with a Pan-African presence, such as Absa, which operates across key trade corridors,  must bring a true corridor strategy to build sector-specific solutions like agri-value chains across multiple countries; use digital platforms to serve mid-market clients, not just large corporates; partner with DFIs to expand risk appetite in frontier markets; and position themselves as a trade enabler, not just financiers, by integrating advisory, foreign exchange, and working capital solutions.

The real differentiator will be the ability to intermediate not just capital, but meaningful connectivity, helping to link clients across markets, currencies, and the supply chain.

Elvis Ndunguru is the Managing Executive for Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, NBC, Tanzania

By Krzysztof Lokaja

Africa’s cement industry is expanding quickly, driven by urbanisation, infrastructure investment and rising demand for housing. Yet behind this growth lies a persistent operational challenge: reliable and affordable access to electricity.

Cement production is energy-intensive and highly sensitive to power interruptions. Kilns operate continuously, and sudden shutdowns disrupt production and increase costs. In many African markets, however, limited access to grid power and volatile energy prices leave many cement producers with no other choice but to invest in power generation capabilities on-site.

In this context, the question facing the cement industry is no longer whether to generate its own power; they often must, but which technology provides the most practical and resilient solution to do so.

The technological options typically envisaged include open-cycle gas turbines, reciprocating gas engines and sometimes even coal-fired steam turbines. But only one of these technologies offers the optimal balance of flexibility, reliability and affordability suited to highly demanding cement operations.

Flexibility in matching industrial power demand

An essential factor to take into consideration when assessing options is the way power demand fluctuates within cement plants. Although production processes often run continuously, electricity demand varies depending on grinding operations, maintenance cycles and seasonal production patterns.

By design, engine power plants are highly effective at adapting to these changing demand profiles since plant operators can simply change power output from each engine between 10% and 100% within minutes. Because they are composed of multiple engines operating in parallel, independent units can even be switched on or off to match real-time demand.

More importantly, flexible engines can operate stably at very low loads while maintaining high efficiency, giving operators a responsive tool for managing fluctuating power requirements. This capability allows the power plant to maintain very high electrical efficiency across a wide range of output levels.

This operational flexibility is also of paramount importance to support the integration of intermittent renewable energy in microgrids. As the cement industry increasingly turns to solar and wind to lower its carbon emission footprint, matching them with flexible engine capacity will provide the critical dispatch dependability needed in hybrid power plant configurations.

Open-cycle gas turbines, on the other hand, significantly lose efficiency when operating below full capacity. For industrial users that rarely operate at a constant full load, this translates into higher long-term fuel consumption, offsetting the turbines’ lower up-front cost. In a sector where energy costs represent a significant share of operating expenses, differences in efficiency over time will outweigh any initial capital cost advantages.

Unlike engines that can be turned on and off multiple times during a day and require no minimum up and down time, turbines need to operate constantly to avoid thermal stresses and, therefore, increased maintenance costs. This lack of operational flexibility will significantly undermine the efficiency, but also severely limit the performance of renewables in hybrid microgrid configurations.

Reliability and scalability as baseline requirements

For cement plants, electricity supply must be dependable above all else. Reciprocating engine power plants typically achieve availability rates over 98 per cent, making them well-suited to industrial environments where access to energy must always be dependable.

One reason for this reliability lies in the modular nature of engine-based plants. Unlike turbine power plants, their configuration allows individual units to be serviced without shutting down the entire plant. Servicing can be planned and carried out on site while the remaining engines continue to operate. Spare parts planning, local technical support and straightforward servicing procedures also help keep downtime to a minimum.

The modular structure of engine power plants also allows for new generation capacity to be expanded gradually. As cement plants increase production, additional generating units can be installed without redesigning the entire power system, whilst avoiding the need for oversized plants. This structural flexibility reduces investment risk, allowing power infrastructure to grow alongside industrial demand.

In this regard, engine power plants offer a degree of adaptability that is difficult to achieve with other generation technologies.

Coal, a cheap option with considerable downsides

Coal-fired power plants are sometimes considered as an alternative for captive power in certain countries, particularly where cheap coal resources are locally available. However, coal-based generation presents its own set of challenges for industrial users.

Much like open-cycle gas turbines, coal plants are designed primarily for steady, continuous operation and are less suited to environments where power output must adjust frequently and rapidly. Startup times can extend to many hours, and maintenance often requires large sections of the plant to be taken offline. This lack of flexibility negatively impacts project economics.

Environmental considerations also represent a major downside for coal. Financing institutions, investors and owners are paying closer attention to emissions profiles and long-term climate risks. As a result, coal-based power plants can encounter significant barriers to financing.

Preparing for an evolving energy landscape

Energy systems across Africa are evolving, with new gas infrastructure, renewable energy projects and volatile fuel markets reshaping the landscape. Industrial power solutions, therefore, need to be able to accommodate these transformations.

Of course, no single power technology is universally optimal. Yet, when sustainability, scalability, reliability, operational flexibility and long-term efficiency are considered together, engine-based power plants present a compelling option for many cement producers across the continent.

Krzysztof Lokaj is the Africa Development Manager for Wärtsilä Energy

By Ivie Abiamuwe

Nigeria’s economic resilience has historically been driven by its nano and micro-enterprises, ranging from roadside kiosks to rapidly growing digital vendors. These businesses form a critical component of economic activity, employment generation, and community stability across the country.

These nano and micro-businesses form the bedrock of the country’s economic drive. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for approximately 96% of businesses in Nigeria, contributing nearly 48% to the national GDP and employing over 80% of the workforce. Yet, despite their fundamental importance, many of these businesses operate without a formal financial structure or long-term strategic planning.

In 2026, this informal model is becoming increasingly unsustainable. As  Nigeria continues to pursue broader economic ambitions, the transition from subsistence operations to strategic participation in the digital value chain is essential. Financial readiness has moved from being a social choice to a macroeconomic imperative.

A common misconception is that nano-SMEs are too small to integrate into formal financial systems. In reality, their collective impact is the primary engine of community stability. However, many operate with limited financial visibility, mixing personal and business finances and lacking the verifiable transaction histories required for credit assessments by financial institutions.

Businesses operating outside formal financial systems may face limitations in accessing structured financing and growth opportunities

Financial readiness begins with digital visibility. In today’s economy, businesses operating outside formal financial systems may face limitations in accessing structured financing and growth opportunities. Digital transactions and traceable expenses form a “financial footprint.” FairMoney Microfinance Bank provides digital financial solutions designed to support entrepreneurs in transitioning from informal cash-based operations to more structured financial practices.

The issue of credit remains a significant hurdle. While many entrepreneurs avoid formal borrowing, credit, when used responsibly, is a strategic growth tool rather than a liability. Building a track record of disciplined repayment increases trust and may improve access to financing opportunities, subject to applicable risk assessment and eligibility requirements.

Access to responsible and appropriately structured financial solutions can help small businesses manage short-term liquidity pressures, support inventory cycles, and improve operational resilience, subject to applicable terms and conditions. For longer-term scaling, fixed-term products allow entrepreneurs to lock away funds and accrue interest at applicable rates, supporting financial resilience over time.

One of the most persistent challenges facing nano-SMEs is the inability to separate personal and business finances. Without this separation, it is nearly impossible to determine if a business is truly profitable. Establishing a dedicated business account is a critical step toward the data-driven decision-making required to scale.

The Nigerian entrepreneur is globally recognised for resilience, but in a tightening regulatory framework, survival alone is no longer sufficient. The future belongs to businesses that are structured and financially prepared.

Financial readiness is the bridge between subsistence entrepreneurship and sustainable value creation. It transforms daily income into a system for building long-term capital. Nigeria does not lack entrepreneurial capacity; what is required is a stronger financial and structural foundation capable of translating that entrepreneurial energy into sustainable economic growth.  For nano-SMEs, bridging the digital and structural gap is no longer optional—it is essential for long-term growth, resilience, and participation in Nigeria’s evolving economy.

Ivie Abiamuwe is the Director of Business Banking at FairMoney Business