The outgoing President of the African Export-Import Bank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, has said that the bank expanded its balance sheet and guarantees nearly eightfold during his decade-long leadership, growing from $6 billion in 2015 to almost $44 billion in 2025.

He said this achievement reflected the institution’s resilience and its central role in advancing Africa’s development.

Speaking at a farewell conference in Cairo on Friday, Oramah said, “We kept a sharp focus on institutional strength and financial health and grew the balance sheet and guarantees almost eightfold, from $6 billion in September 2015 to almost $44 billion in September 2025.”

He further noted that the bank had recorded strong financial returns for shareholders, paying out “an aggregate of almost $1.4 billion as dividends for the period from 2015 to 2024.”

Oramah said the growth was anchored on a deliberate philosophy that Africa’s economic emancipation must be driven from within, promoting intra-African trade and investment as the “arrowhead” of Afreximbank’s strategy.

He explained that when he assumed office in 2015, the continent faced serious challenges, including a commodity crisis, setbacks in industrial transformation, and weak trade integration.

He recalled that many had doubted the bank’s broad agenda but said it became clear that Afreximbank had to “fight on all fronts” to make progress.

“Hundreds of years of history had shown us that external interests had been mostly predatory and parasitic, unless engaged from a position of strength and purpose,” he said.

Oramah listed several interventions delivered during his tenure. The bank supported the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), launched the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System backed by a $3 billion facility, and made “African currencies legal tenders across African borders.”

He added that the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund now had $1 billion in commitments, while the Intra-African Trade Fair had been held four times, attracting more than $170 billion in trade and investment deals and drawing 180,000 visitors.

The Africa Trade Gateway digital platform and Afreximbank Trade Centres were also launched to ease access to trade and investment information.

Oramah said the bank harmonised about 500 standards for pharmaceuticals, agriculture, automobiles, and textiles, and launched a collaborative transit guarantee scheme supported by $1 billion in guarantee limits.

He added that industrial parks and special economic zones were emerging across the continent, creating manufactured exports where none had existed, while the bank also supported heavy industries such as the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant.

According to him, socio-economic ties with the Caribbean and the wider African diaspora had been reignited, and the African Medical Centre of Excellence projects were paving the way for greater access to healthcare.

Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic, Oramah said, “We rose to the challenge, disbursing over $10 billion in the COVID-19 intervention.”

He added that Afreximbank provided $2 billion to help Africa and the Caribbean procure vaccines.

Oramah stressed that the bank had maintained institutional strength while diversifying funding sources, noting that partnerships with African governments, central banks, and corporations had become critical to its resilience.

He also acknowledged the contributions of international commercial banks such as Standard Chartered, HSBC, SMBC, and MUFG, development finance institutions like KfW and AFD, and export credit agencies from countries including Canada, China, India, Finland, and Germany, which helped the bank attract and disburse more than $155 billion over the past decade.

Reflecting on his journey from joining the bank as one of its pioneer staff in 1994 to becoming president in 2015, Oramah paid tribute to those who shaped his career.

He also praised the bank’s staff, whom he once described as “Co-Mandated Lead Arrangers,” saying they had “successfully closed the deal” of delivering the bank’s mandate over the past decade.

Oramah expressed gratitude to clients, including 500 partner banks, major corporates such as the Dangote Group, NNPC, and Sonangol, as well as African governments and shareholders whose backing helped sustain the bank through economic shocks.

He thanked partners, including the African Development Bank and members of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions, for their joint work on trade and industrialisation.

He also expressed appreciation to the government and people of Egypt for hosting the bank, as well as to his family, friends, and late parents for their support throughout his 31-year career.

Oramah said, “Despite the progress we celebrate today, the challenges of development remain significant,” but expressed confidence in his successor, Dr. George Elombi, describing him as well-prepared after nearly 30 years in the bank.

Speaking earlier, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice-President, Dr. George Elombi, paid glowing tribute to Oramah, describing him as a rare leader who fused vision with execution and left a lasting imprint on Africa’s development journey.

Elombi, the incoming president of the bank, said Oramah stood out as one of the very few in the world capable of combining bold ideas with practical delivery.

He recalled that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had earlier described Oramah as part of “the 0.8 per cent who combine vision and execution,” adding that many leaders possess one but not both.

Elombi, who joined Afreximbank in 1996, said Oramah’s energy was visible from the onset as he handled multiple roles with tenacity.

According to him, Afreximbank under Oramah pursued a portfolio approach that went beyond trade to tackle the infrastructure underpinning it, helping the bank grow from $6 billion in 2015 to over $40 billion in assets.

He said this growth produced key offshoots such as FEDA, AfrexInsure, a project preparation fund, a concessional finance window, and the African Medical Centre of Excellence.

“He has helped turn the bank into Africa’s development supermarket,” Elombi said.

He listed several national and international honours conferred on Oramah, including Nigeria’s Grand Commander award and the Onitsha title of “Dikeora” – the Great Man of the People, which he likened to a great masquerade.

“You have instilled in us a can-do spirit, the courage to continue challenging the status quo, to challenge the orthodoxy that preaches that nothing good can come out of our continent,” he said.

In one of the most emotional moments of the farewell, Mrs. Chinelo Oramah, wife of the outgoing president, moved the audience as she spoke about the personal side of her husband’s journey.

She recalled a period of illness when the “concern of the board, management, and staff” saved his life, describing the support as more than employment but “family, love, and humanity at its finest.”

She thanked the bank for securing her children’s education and praised the Afreximbank Spouses Network for its solidarity.

The valedictory ceremony in Cairo was marked by glowing tributes to Prof. Benedict Oramah, widely hailed as Africa’s trade architect, a scholar and patriot whose vision turned ideas into enduring institutions and transformed the bank into a continental force.

The event drew former and serving African heads of state, business leaders, bankers, and diplomats.

Among those who paid tribute were Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, former Afreximbank presidents Jean-Louis Ekra and Christopher Edordu, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, and AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, all praising Oramah’s indelible legacy.