Business Talk – Standard Bank’s Inwang Akpan on the biggest export trends in Africa

In this Business Talk with Michael Avery interview, Inwang Akpan – Standard Bank Head of Trade for Transaction Banking – discusses the unique challenges of being an African exporter.

Akpan is an executive with extensive experience in banking operations, relationship management, business development functions, deal origination, and risk management.

Before being made Head of Trade, Akpan was the Head of Transactional Products and Services (TPS) for Stanbic IBTC Nigeria.

There, he was responsible for the TPS strategy and for managing the team executing this strategy – ensuring that Stanbic’s corporate and investment banking clients get excellent value for money.

The interview

In this Business Talk interview, Akpan discusses the state of the exports industry – both for South Africa, and Africa as a whole.

He outlines the unique challenges of being an African exporter, and explains how businesses can navigate these challenges effectively.

Akpan then discusses the opportunities for African businesses to trade with each other, and highlights where intra-African trade relations are currently the strongest.

He expands upon the biggest trends when it comes to intra-African trading, and highlights the infrastructural challenges that inhibit trading within the continent.

Akpan concludes the interview by highlighting the Middle-East’s increasing interest in building trade relations with African countries and explains how South African businesses can take advantage of this.

Watch the full interview with Inwang Akpan below.