African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the FCI, Quarterback and American University in Cairo, said it is opening registration for the 7th cohort of the Certificate of Trade Finance in Africa (COTFIA 2022) programme. It also said that this is a re-modelled programme that replaces the Certificate of International Trade Finance (COFIT) which has been running successfully since 2016. The programme has been updated to align it with the new trends in trade finance and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In a statement in Cairo the continental financial institution said “Afreximbank is especially pleased to announce a new collaboration with the American University in Cairo, Egypt (AuC) to replace the University of Malta as the academic host of the programme. AUC is one of the top listed Universities in Africa, which will bring its unique expertise in specialised learning in Africa to bear on the programme. The programme has been carefully curated to meet the demands of understanding trade in Africa and enhance participants’ understanding of all aspects of international trade, import and export business, finance of international trade, supply chain finance and commercial finance, including factoring, invoice discounting and asset-based lending.
“The programme will also discuss the various aspects of the African Continental Free Trade Area that came into implementation on 01st July 2020 and its positive implication on enhancing trade across the African continent. Given the exceptional circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic, the COTFIA 2022 programme will run in hybrid format with four modules online, two on campus in Cairo, Egypt, and the last module will be asynchronous online. The deadline for applications for COTFIA 2022 Programme is 30 March 2022. The first 7 applications to this programme will be eligible to a 50% scholarship from Afreximbank on the tuition fee”.
Stephen Tio Kauma, Afreximbank’s Director and Global Head for Human Resources said: “We are delighted to open up registration to this unique course. We have had great feedback from the 50 plus students who have enrolled on this course since its inception in 2016. “We would urge partner organisations to enroll their staff members for COTFIA 2022 to equip their teams with the indispensable understanding of international trade from this course. This qualification serves not only to deepen an understanding of international trade, but also to accelerate career growth for career-oriented people or business growth for businesspeople in Africa.”
