Afreximbank’s President Oramah Emerges Forbes Africa’s 2023 Person Of The Year

The President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, has emerged the Forbes Africa Magazine 2023 Person of The Year.

Professor Oramah received the award at a well-attended award ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, which also featured the unveiling of the cover for FORBES AFRICA’s December 2023/January 2024 edition featuring Prof. Oramah as Cover personality.

Dr. Rakesh Wahi, FORBES AFRICA Founder and Publisher, and Roberta Naicker, the Managing Director, said that the award recognised the stellar accomplishments of leading Africans contributing to the development of the continent.

“With a career spanning three decades at Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah is a true pan-Africanist,” said Renuka Methil, Managing Editor of Forbes Africa. “In our almost hour-long interview Prof. Oramah’s stellar track record, coupled with his unbridled enthusiasm, passion, and contribution to the economic development of Africa shone through”

“Amongst many initiatives under his visionary leadership, Afreximbank launched the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) which will be a historic project for cross-border payments in local African currencies. He is a resilient risk-taker and articulated so well what a new united Africa should, and would, look like,” added Ms Renuka Methil.

Nominations for Forbes Africa Person of The Year are submitted by members of the magazine’s editorial and research teams, including journalists from its bureaus across Africa, and a winner is selected after an Africa-wide review of the prominent contributors to the continent. Prof. Oramah’s name was shortlisted and unanimously adjudged the winner for 2023.

With the award, Prof. Oramah joins a prestigious list of high achievers who had previously received the award, including Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Dr. James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Group; Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank; Aliko Dangote, CEO, Dangote Group; Mohammed Dewji, President, MeTL Group; and Thuli Madonsela, former Public Protector of South Africa.

On 18 November, President Oramah also received the Zik Prize in Professional Leadership at an event in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards for his contributions to the development and promotion of trade in Africa, and for the many initiatives he has championed to drive intra-African trade.

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2022, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$31 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.2 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$86 billion between 2016 and 2022. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB).