Onyeali-Ikpe Urges Policy And Capital Support For African SMEs

Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, has urged policymakers, financiers and industry leaders to back Africa’s SMEs with deliberate policy, targeted capital and accountable collaboration to drive inclusive growth under AfCFTA. She spoke at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues, APD 2026, in Accra, describing the event as “one of the continent’s most influential spaces for advancing trade, investment, and inclusive growth.”

She said the theme, “Empowering SMEs, Women and Youth in Africa’s Single Market: Innovate. Collaborate. Trade.”, reflects current realities, noting that “less than 20 % of African SMEs access formal finance, leaving a staggering 331 billion US Dollars financing gap,” according to IFC’s MSME Finance Gap report 2025.

Dr. Onyeali-Ikpe outlined three priorities. First, she called for tailored trade finance and simpler processes to unlock women led trade, citing UN Women research that women reinvest up to 90 percent of income into families and communities, and AfCFTA estimates of over 15 billion US Dollars in untapped trade potential from women-led enterprises.

Second, she urged stakeholders to convert Africa’s youth potential into enterprise, stressing that, “we need to encourage digital trade platforms that lower entry costs and allow young entrepreneurs to scale faster with less capital.”

Third, she said SMEs must be made trade ready, noting Africa’s supply chain and trade finance volumes of about 50 billion Euros against an estimated need of 240 billion Euros, and calling for expanded supply chain finance and harmonised documentation.

She highlighted Fidelity Bank’s interventions aligned to these priorities, including trade support through Fidbank UK, market access expansion through the Fidelity Nigeria International Trade and Creative Connect, FNITCC, and women focused support through HerFidelity and FundHer. She also said the Fidelity SME Hub has helped over 50,000 SMEs transition from survival to scale through advisory support, capacity building and access to tailored finance.

Closing, she said, “APD 2026 matters because Africa’s single market will not build itself,” adding that, “it will be built through deliberate policy, targeted capital, and accountable collaboration,” and expressing optimism about “bankable outcomes for Africa’s economy.”

Held in Accra, Ghana between Wednesday, 4 and Friday 6 February 2026, the Africa Prosperity Dialogues is an annual platform convened by the Africa Prosperity Network to advance practical solutions for economic integration. It focuses on accelerating AfCFTA implementation, promoting intra African trade and investment, and removing barriers to trade and mobility across the continent.