Maersk announced its plans on offering digital trade finance in South Africa, in light of further boosting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Although they contribute to S. Africa’s economy, SMEs often face challenges in accessing finance.
Vipul Sardana, Global Head of Trade Finance for Maersk, quoted
Focusing more on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represents a strong opportunity for Maersk to introduce more customers to our end-to-end supply chain and logistics products, services and solutions. In that sense, South Africa is a critical market for us.
He continued that in Cape Town the SMEs are important factors for the economic development of South Africa. According to researchers, South African SMEs hold the 91% of formal businesses, providing jobs to 60% of the labour force.
ICC Banking Commission noted that there’s a huge trade finance gap in Africa between $110 billion to $120 billion.
In the meantime, SMEs have limited access to funds because of strict collateral requirements and credit background checks. Therefore, Dirk Van den Berg, Head of Maersk Trade Finance in South Africa highlighted that as trade finance grows into being an important alternative, SMEs will be able to access additional capital growth.
He noted that the digital trade finance enables customers to have an easy access to capital in foreign currency, concerning international trade to finance their economic needs, when needed.
As Mr Van den Berg addressed
In other words, this one-stop-shop provides a more effective way to manage the ocean leg of end-to-end global supply chains, both financially and operationally.