CAIRO/Egypt: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on Saturday inaugurated Dr. George Elombi as its fourth President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, marking the beginning of a new era for the continent’s foremost multilateral finance institution. Dr. Elombi succeeds Prof. Benedict Oramah, who successfully completed his tenure as the Bank’s third President.
The investiture ceremony, held in Cairo, Egypt, was formalised with an oath administered by Mr. Wale Edun, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, who also serves as Chairman of the Bank’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. The event was attended by over 2,000 dignitaries, including African and Caribbean heads of state, former leaders, ministers, business executives, former Afreximbank presidents, shareholders, staff, and international partners.
In his inaugural address, Dr. Elombi reaffirmed his commitment to build on Afreximbank’s legacy while steering it toward deeper impact, stronger partnerships, and greater self-sufficiency for Africa. He stressed that the existing structure of global trade was skewed against Africa due to its overreliance on commodity exports, saying: “Our mission is to transform the structure of that trade. To change the structure, we must process. We must produce. Unless we produce, we cannot trade.”
Outlining his agenda for the next decade, Dr. Elombi said Afreximbank would prioritise high-impact sectors that could drive sustainable growth across the continent. Key among these would be accelerating value addition and promoting strategic minerals processing to reduce Africa’s dependency on raw exports.
“Afreximbank will create a new, high-impact financing window dedicated to projects that process raw minerals into semi-finished or finished goods,” he announced. “We will establish a Strategic Minerals Development Programme to finance entire value chains, from extraction and refining to manufacturing finished components—so that Africa captures more value and creates high-skilled jobs for its people.”
He further stated that Afreximbank would deepen intra-African trade and regional integration to ensure the success of its industrialisation drive. “We will intensify efforts to break down trade barriers, strengthen cross-border infrastructure, and foster seamless movement of goods, services, people, and capital across our continent,” he said.
Dr. Elombi reaffirmed the Bank’s commitment to playing a catalytic role in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) through innovative programmes that promote trade facilitation, policy alignment, and investment growth.
Other top priorities, according to the new President, include catalysing critical trade-enabling infrastructure, expanding innovation through digital finance, and exploring the creation of a Pan-African digital currency to enhance financial integration and efficiency across the continent.
He emphasized the importance of maintaining the Bank’s financial strength, noting that “only a strong and well-capitalised institution can make the scale of interventions required to transform Africa’s trade and development landscape.” He also pledged to expand strategic partnerships with development institutions, stressing that collaboration remains key to achieving Afreximbank’s mandate.
“We recognise that Africa’s progress depends not only on the strength of individual institutions but also on the power of collaboration among them,” Dr. Elombi stated.
Addressing growing scrutiny of African-led financial institutions, Dr. Elombi said Afreximbank’s credibility was built on its strong foundation and performance record. “The increasingly hostile narrative targeted at African multilateral institutions is not because we fail, but because we are successful,” he said, noting that Afreximbank’s preferred creditor status was enshrined in its Establishment Treaty, signed by all member states.
The ceremony also featured goodwill messages from Mr. Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt; Hon. Louis-Paul Motazé, Minister of Finance of Cameroon; Africa’s leading industrialist Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Ms. Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission; and Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
With his appointment, Dr. Elombi steps into a pivotal role at a defining moment for Africa’s trade transformation, pledging to lead Afreximbank toward a future where the continent produces, processes, and prospers on its own terms.
