From agritech and logistics to fintech and digital trade infrastructure, the African Export-Import Bank has selected eight startups from more than 1,600 applicants for the inaugural Afreximbank Accelerator Programme a targeted push to turn innovation into measurable trade flows under the AfCFTA.
The three-month initiative launching in March 2026 is aimed at scaling African-led startups that are reshaping intra-African trade.
The selection follows an intensely competitive process that drew more than 1,600 applications from across Africa, the African diaspora and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Candidates were assessed through detailed business evaluations, interviews and pitch sessions, overseen by Afreximbank trade specialists alongside external experts from the venture capital and innovation ecosystem.
The result is a cohort that reflects both the breadth of Africa’s entrepreneurial ambition and the bank’s strategic focus: companies operating at the intersection of trade, technology and industrialisation, from seed stage to Series A, with solutions designed to move goods, capital and services more efficiently across borders.
Trade as a Strategy
Intra-African trade remains stubbornly low hovering around 15–18 per cent of total African trade, compared with more than 60 per cent in Europe and Asia, despite the formal launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Afreximbank’s accelerator is explicitly designed to close that gap by backing startups that tackle real bottlenecks in logistics, payments, market access and financing.
The selected finalists span agriculture, e-commerce, fintech, supply-chain optimisation, manufacturing support and digital services sectors central to Africa’s push for value addition and export diversification. Collectively, they target challenges that affect both continental and diaspora markets, while aligning with Afreximbank’s mandate to expand Africa’s footprint in global trade.
“The Afreximbank Accelerator Programme reflects our belief in the power of innovation to transform intra and global African trade,” said Mr Haytham Elmaayergi, Executive Vice President, Global Trade Bank at Afreximbank. The initiative, he added, “underscores the important role that global African innovation plays in realising the promise of AfCFTA.”
“This inaugural cohort represents the future of African enterprise and we are proud to invest in them from vision to scale to nurture solutions needed to unlock trade across Africa, the diaspora and CARICOM and the rest of the world,” he said.
Capital, Capability and Access
Finalists will receive a tightly integrated support package designed to accelerate growth rather than merely mentor it. This includes a potential equity investment of up to $250,000, subject to a selection criteria through Afreximbank’s impact equity arm, the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA). The funding is structured to support rapid scale-up and operational expansion.
Beyond capital, the programme offers direct access to seasoned mentors, investors, trade specialists and industry leaders, with a strong emphasis on market entry and execution. Startups will also be plugged into Afreximbank’s pan-African trade ecosystem, gaining exposure to trade facilitation programmes, regulatory pathways and partnerships with governments, corporates and multilateral institutions.
The accelerator blends virtual learning with hands-on workshops and in-person sessions hosted across key regional hubs, including Abuja, Nairobi and Afreximbank’s headquarters in Cairo. The programme will culminate in a high-profile Demo Day, where founders will pitch to global investors, policymakers and industry leaders.
The Eight Finalists
Fincart positions itself as the operating system for e-commerce SMEs in emerging markets. Built for the realities of fast-growing direct-to-consumer brands, its platform unifies order management, multi-courier shipping, delivery experience management, cash reconciliation and embedded working capital.
“We unify everything into one platform built for the realities of growing direct-to-consumer brands,” the company says.
Founders: Nihal Ali (Co-Founder & COO) and Mostafa Masry (Co-Founder & CEO).
OnePort 365 is a digital freight management company integrating air, ocean and trucking services into a single ecosystem. Operating across Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, it provides end-to-end shipment visibility, digitised customs and compliance processes, and transparent, real-time freight pricing. By connecting key African trade corridors to global routes, the platform generates proprietary data on cargo flows, costs and risk, while extending modern logistics capabilities to SMEs, which account for roughly 30 per cent of trade activity but are often excluded from efficient freight services.
CEO: Hio Sola-Usidame.
Timon is a global travel and payments wallet designed to remove payment friction for African travellers and businesses. It offers USD travel cards alongside local payment options such as mobile money, QR codes and bank transfers, enabling users to “pay and get paid like locals”. Currently active in 15 African countries, Timon plans to expand payouts to 40 markets by Q1 2026. Central to its model is reducing reliance on the US dollar by enabling local-currency-to-local-currency settlements, lowering transaction costs and easing pressure on foreign-exchange markets.
CEOs: Chizaram Ucheaga and Oluwatomi Ayorinde.
Zowasel is an agritech and finance company operating in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. It connects more than 4,000 verified cooperatives, merchants and agribusinesses to national, regional and international buyers, with a focus on quality compliance, transparent pricing and reliable delivery. The platform addresses one of Africa’s most persistent trade gaps, which is linking small producers to scalable, bankable markets.
Founder and CEO: Jerry Oche.
Gebeya is building AI agents tailored for Africa’s service and creative economy. Its always-on digital assistants embed directly into daily business operations, automating customer engagement, supporting decision-making and reducing operating costs. The company positions its technology as the operational backbone for African entrepreneurs “turning talent into structured, efficient, and future-ready enterprises.”
Leadership: Martin Ndlovu (Head of Product) and Amadou Daffe (CEO & Co-Founder).
Fluna is developing digital trade infrastructure for Africa’s agricultural exports. Its pan-African B2B platform connects vetted suppliers with verified regional and international buyers, embeds financing to resolve payment-term mismatches, and enforces quality and compliance through traceability and standardised sourcing. Since launch, Fluna has supported more than 500 exporters, facilitated over $50 million in trade across 10 countries, and enabled more than 8,000 jobs.
Leadership: Olumide Bolumole (Chief Commercial Officer) and Miguel Sousa Dias (CEO & Co-Founder).
Capsa Technology, founded in 2019, operates an alternative finance marketplace focused on working capital. Through its GetCapsa platform, businesses can convert unpaid invoices into cash within 48 hours using invoice factoring and supply-chain finance. By leveraging the credit strength of large corporates, Capsa de-risks financing for SMEs while offering investors access to alternative assets. In four years, it has facilitated more than ₦70bn in financing across 10,000 transactions.
Leadership: Segun Dada (CCO & Co-Founder) and Mustapha Suberu (CEO & Co-Founder).
Daba Finance positions itself as Africa’s first unified investment and capital-mobilisation platform for cross-border investing. It channels local, diaspora and global capital into African markets by transforming savings and remittances into productive investment. Through a compliant, multi-currency platform, users can access African stocks, bonds, funds and treasury products across multiple countries reducing friction and lowering the cost of financing African businesses.
Leadership: Anthony Miclet (CPO & Co-Founder) and Boum III Jr (CEO & Co-Founder).
Beyond Acceleration
Taken together, the cohort illustrates a broader shift in African entrepreneurship, a move away from isolated startup success stories toward system-level solutions that make trade cheaper, faster and more inclusive.
By tying capital deployment to AfCFTA priorities and measurable trade outcomes, Afreximbank is positioning the accelerator as more than a startup programme, it is a policy instrument aimed at industrialisation and integration.
As African economies contend with tightening global capital, volatile currencies and fragmented markets, the bet is that home-grown innovation backed by patient, trade-aligned finance can deliver scale where policy alone has fallen short.
