Afreximbank bids farewell to visionary leader Prof. Benedict Oramah

Afreximbank’s long-serving President, Professor Benedict Oramah, received a hero’s farewell at a high-profile conference and investiture ceremony held in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, after 31 years of service.

African leaders, business figures, and continental institutions gathered to honour his decade-long leadership as President and chairman of the board that transformed the Bank into one of Africa’s most powerful development engines.

Delivering a heartfelt tribute, Dr. George Elombi, executive vice-president of Afreximbank, described Oramah as a rare leader who combines “vision and execution”, and as a man who not only dreamt of Africa’s transformation but also built the instruments to achieve it.

“When I joined Afreximbank in 1996, Oramah was already there — a hustler, a credit officer, a strategist, and the President’s adviser all at once,” Elombi said. “He believed everything was possible, and his rise to the top was as inevitable as the rising sun.”

Under Oramah’s leadership, Afreximbank grew from a modest institution with $6 billion in assets in 2015 to a continental powerhouse with over $40bn in assets. He pioneered a “portfolio approach” to Africa’s trade and industrial development — tackling trade finance, infrastructure, and industrialisation as interconnected levers of growth.

This strategy birthed several landmark initiatives, including:

• FEDA, the Fund for Export Development in Africa, to support African manufacturing and value addition;

• AfrexInsure, which provides specialised insurance for trade and investment;

• the Project Preparation Fund, helping African governments and private investors develop bankable projects;

• and the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE), a bold healthcare initiative.

These efforts cemented Afreximbank’s role as a key player in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and building the foundations for Africa’s economic sovereignty.

In a moving address, Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, called Oramah “a visionary, a statesman, and a true son of Africa.”

“Under his stewardship, Afreximbank became a continental and global powerhouse — financing trade, fostering industrial capacity, and restoring confidence in Africa’s economic promise,” Mene said.

He praised Oramah’s unwavering support for the AfCFTA, including the establishment of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), and the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) — initiatives that have reshaped the landscape of African trade.

“These are not isolated projects,” Mene noted, “but part of a vision of a self-reliant Africa trading with itself, investing in its own potential, and shaping its destiny with confidence.”

Oramah’s impact has been recognised globally. He has received honours including Russia’s Order of Friendship, Cameroon’s Order of Valour, Congo-Brazzaville’s National Order of Merit, and Nigeria’s Grand Commander distinction. In his hometown of Onitsha, he was bestowed the title Dikeora — “The Great Man of the People.”

To mark the occasion, Afreximbank unveiled a coffee table book chronicling the Bank’s transformation under Oramah’s decade of leadership — a tribute to his vision and a roadmap for the future.

Oramah reflected on the Bank’s evolution from a small regional initiative in 1993 into one of Africa’s most influential financial institutions with a cumulative disbursements of more than $155bn.

“When I joined the Bank in 1994, I knew I was not joining just another financial institution; I was becoming part of a movement aimed at turning decades-old aspirations by Africans into reality,” Oramah said. “Today, that vision has materialised in tangible ways.”

Under his leadership since 2015, Afreximbank’s balance sheet grew nearly eightfold—from $6bn to $44bn—while shareholders earned $1.4bn in dividends between 2015 and 2024.

Oramah outlined several initiatives that redefined Africa’s trade and industrial landscape.

These include the PAPSS—a platform integrating 42 payment systems into a single network—now operational in 20 countries; and the IATF, which has generated over $170bn in trade and investment deals.

Afreximbank also played a central role in supporting the AfCFTA through a $1bbn Adjustment Fund and in promoting industrialisation via projects such as the Dangote Refinery and multiple Special Economic Zones across Africa.

Oramah also paid tribute to mentors who shaped his journey, including Afreximbank’s pioneer President Christopher Edordu, and Jean-Louis Ekra, under whom he served as executive vice president before assuming the top post.

He acknowledged strong partnerships with institutions such as the African Union Commission, AfCFTA Secretariat, African Development Bank, COMESA, ITC, and UNECA, crediting these collaborations for advancing Africa’s integration and resilience.

Looking ahead, Oramah expressed confidence in his successor, Dr. George Elombi, who is set to take the oath of office as President on Saturday.

“He comes well prepared,” Oramah said. “With him at the helm, the achievements of the next decade will make those of the past 10 years look ordinary.”

BUSINESS REPORT