Business
Nigeria’s UBA bank seeks to invest in East Africa’s energy and infrastructure
UBA is using its experience to convince regional stakeholders of its financial strength. In the past five years, the institution has been involved in arranging financing for various oil and infrastructure projects in Africa worth US$3.5 billion.
Umeme – (an energy distribution network company), another company on UBA’s radar, plans to invest US$300 million in the medium term rolling out prepaid power metering. Umeme also plans to connect 60,000 new customers every year for the next seven years.
With a presence in 19 African countries, UBA has come of age and is ready to take on large multinational banks in international trade.
“Over the last decade, intra African trade has emerged as a strong driver of growth across the continent; however cross border transactions still remain a challenge for Africa. If a Nigerian importer wants to do business with a Ugandan exporter, the letters of credit have to first be approved by a European bank. This obviously takes more time and more money out of Africa,” said Oduoza.
He noted that with the growing difficulties in accessing European markets by African business, as well as the effects of the economic crisis, intra-continental trade presented Africa with a chance for growth, providing the respective governments carry out the needed reforms to ease the cost and speed of doing business.
Africa has a population of over 1 billion people, and this is a great opportunity for African businesses. Right now there is so much unstructured trade across the various borders that could benefit from a well-structured and affordable payments system, and the UBA is in a great position to provide such a service.
Source: The East African
