Moji Hunponu-Wusu, president Woodhall Capital has referred to as for a wholesale rethink of SME finance in Africa.
Hunponu-Wusu made this identified throughout a high-level workshop on factoring on the Afreximbank Annual Normal Assembly, urging policymakers and financiers to mainstream the little-used receivables instrument as a liquidity lifeline for small companies.
Chatting with over 200 stakeholders from finance, coverage, and export sectors in Abuja, Hunponu-Wusu framed factoring not as a distinct segment product, however as a “liberation instrument” that unlocks worth from unpaid invoices, providing African companies entry to capital with out debt or fairness dilution.
“Too usually, we deal with unpaid invoices as lifeless weight, when the truth is, they’re trapped worth,” she stated. “We don’t want extra theories—we want instruments. And this is without doubt one of the strongest we now have.”
The session, titled Issue Ahead: Advancing Factoring in Nigeria and Past, was hosted by Woodhall Capital in partnership with NEXIM Financial institution, Afreximbank, and SEWA Capital Restricted.
It featured technical panel discussions, breakout clinics, and a dwell “Factoring Readiness Clinic” the place SMEs submitted actual invoices for eligibility screening.
Learn additionally: Woodhall Capital leads push to close Africa’s $81bn trade finance gap
Factoring — promoting invoices at a reduction for upfront money — is more and more being considered as a viable different to conventional lending, significantly for African SMEs locked out of formal credit score markets. However adoption stays uneven, hindered by authorized uncertainties and restricted consciousness.
Afreximbank spotlighted its Mannequin Regulation on Factoring, urging international locations like Nigeria to undertake the framework to harmonize regulation and create authorized certainty.
NEXIM Financial institution’s CEO, Abba Bello, emphasised the instrument’s relevance for non-oil exporters grappling with cost delays, and pledged help for pilot packages in sectors like agro-processing and manufacturing.
SEWA Capital’s Angela Jide-Jones framed factoring as a important pathway for women- and youth-led enterprises which have contracts however lack collateral. “This workshop is precisely what Africa wants, imaginative and prescient backed by execution,” she stated.
Hunponu-Wusu closed the occasion by asserting a brand new Factoring Enablement Program, designed to information SMEs by contract audits, digital onboarding, and entry to factoring service suppliers.
A communique from the occasion referred to as for adoption of the Mannequin Regulation, creation of a nationwide receivables registry, and tax incentives for early adopters.
“This isn’t about jargon,” Hunponu-Wusu stated. “It’s about rewriting how we take into consideration capital.”
