The International Trade Centre (ITC) and Access Africa Office, the coordinating office for the African subsidiaries of Access Bank Plc, have established a new partnership to boost access to finance, markets and skills training for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across 14 African countries.
The programme will begin with a pilot in Ghana before expanding to other markets. The 14 countries covered by the partnership are Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
According to a press statement, the partnership, which was marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly in New York, will run for three years.
It added that the programme will focus on five priority areas: job creation through SMEs; access to finance, particularly for women- and youth-owned businesses; SME business sustainability; capacity building, including digital trade skills; and access to markets, including support for intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The implementation begins with a pilot phase from September 2026 to June 2027, focused on a cohort of small businesses in Ghana, with women-led enterprises prioritised. The pilot will draw on ITC’s existing digital learning tools and training-of-trainers programmes, delivered in coordination with Access Africa Office staff.
The partnership comes as African small businesses, which generate most of the continent’s jobs, continue to face challenges accessing the financing and market opportunities needed to grow. The initiative brings together ITC’s technical expertise with Access Bank’s pan-African reach to address the financing, skills and market-access gaps facing SMEs.
Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, said access to finance remains the biggest barrier to trade faced by small businesses across Africa.
“We’re working with Access Bank to tackle this challenge and accompany the enterprises as we equip them with the knowledge, networks and market connections they need to grow,” she said.
Seyi Kumapayi, Executive Director, African Subsidiaries at Access Bank, said finance alone does not get a small business to scale, highlighting the importance of combining capital, market access and trade-ready skills.
“Which is why this partnership pairs our reach across African markets with ITC’s expertise in knowledge, networks and market connections. Together, we are starting with women-led enterprises and small businesses in Ghana, with the ambition to scale intra-African trade and deepen financial inclusion across Africa,” he said.
The partners aim to scale the programme from 2027 onwards to cover additional countries and programmes, including advanced training on sustainability standards and digital marketplace tools. The work also supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 on Gender Equality, 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth, and 9 on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
