Keypoints:
- $10m facility targets export-focused SMEs
- Azania Bank will on-lend the funding
- Businesses also gain export-readiness support
TANZANIA’S small and medium-sized exporters are set to gain access to new financing after African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) extended a $10m facility to Azania Bank aimed at businesses seeking to expand production and compete in regional and international markets.
The financing goes beyond short-term trade credit by providing both working capital and medium-term funding for expansion, productive assets and pre- and post-export operations. Afreximbank says limited access to finance continues to constrain African SMEs seeking to expand into cross-border trade.
Export-focused businesses targeted
The facility is being provided under Afreximbank’s Export SME Development Programme and will be channelled through Azania Bank to qualifying businesses across Tanzania’s export value chains.
Agriculture, manufacturing, trade, technology, logistics and value-added exports are among the sectors targeted.
For SMEs, access to capital before an export order is completed can determine whether a company has the capacity to buy inputs, increase production or meet delivery requirements. Post-export finance can also help businesses manage cash-flow pressures while awaiting payment from customers.
The facility therefore seeks to address financing constraints at several stages of the export cycle rather than simply providing businesses with a conventional loan.
AfCFTA opportunity comes into focus
Afreximbank is also linking the programme to opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is intended to deepen commerce between African economies and encourage the development of regional supply chains.
The bank expects participating Tanzanian businesses to strengthen their ability to enter cross-border markets and become more competitive within regional and global value chains.
However, the eventual impact will depend partly on how widely Azania Bank can distribute the financing, the borrowing terms offered to businesses and whether SMEs can meet the eligibility requirements.
Details of interest rates, individual loan limits and repayment terms for businesses accessing the new facility were not disclosed in the announcement.
Support extends beyond lending
The programme also includes business development assistance intended to help SMEs become export-ready.
Afreximbank said participating companies would have access to export-readiness training, financial management advice, market-linkage opportunities, digitalisation support and SME-focused networking and knowledge platforms.
Oluranti Doherty, Afreximbank’s Managing Director for Export Development, said smaller businesses remained central to Africa’s industrialisation and value-addition ambitions but continued to face financing and market-access constraints.
She said the Export SME Development Programme was designed to combine funding with capacity building and market-access support to help businesses scale and compete more effectively.
Azania expands SME financing role
Azania Bank’s Director of Business Development, Yahaya Mbanka, said the facility would strengthen the lender’s capacity to finance Tanzanian SMEs investing in productive capacity and pursuing export opportunities.
The arrangement also gives Azania Bank a larger role in connecting domestic businesses with development finance intended specifically for trade.
For Tanzania, the facility fits into a broader push to increase domestic production, expand value addition and diversify exports while strengthening the country’s links with regional markets.
According to Afreximbank’s 2025 Annual Trade Development Effectiveness Report, the bank extended more than $960m to over 58,000 SMEs across Africa, including women- and youth-led enterprises.
Afreximbank said those interventions were intended to give businesses the capital required to expand, enter cross-border markets and participate more effectively in African trade.
The immediate test in Tanzania will be how quickly the $10m facility moves from the banking system into businesses capable of converting additional finance into larger production volumes, new export contracts and stronger positions in regional supply chains.
