By The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) said on Monday that Senegal and Liberia had acceded to its establishment agreement, while Angola and Zimbabwe ratified the pact, expanding the fund’s membership to 24 countries.
FEDA is the equity investment arm of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a Cairo-based multilateral lender that finances trade across the continent.
The fund said the new memberships would give it a stronger base to back industrial and critical mineral processing projects in the four countries, spanning logistics, agro-processing, energy, manufacturing and financial services.
“FEDA’s continued membership growth significantly expands the markets in which we can pursue our mandate and build stronger partnerships with governments and the private sector,” Emmanuel Assiak, chief executive of FEDA, said in a statement.
Assiak said Senegal, Liberia, Angola and Zimbabwe each offered investment opportunities across strategic sectors of their economies, and that the fund aimed to convert its wider footprint into projects that strengthen regional supply chains.
FEDA provides equity, quasi-equity and other long-term capital to businesses and projects aimed at diversifying African economies, deepening regional integration and boosting exports.
Dr George Elombi, president and chairman of the boards of both Afreximbank and FEDA, said the new commitments reflected growing confidence among African governments in institutions they own and control.
“As the Afreximbank Group pursues its African industrialisation agenda, FEDA’s equity and quasi-equity instruments will become critical to executing strategic industrial projects at national and regional levels,” Elombi said.
He said the fund’s expanding membership would help mobilise African capital for projects across the continent.
FEDA’s investment capacity has expanded significantly over the past five years, according to the statement, with Afreximbank increasing its commitment to the fund to $1.3 billion from $100 million.
The fund said the additional capital had allowed it to broaden its investment activities across more regions and sectors, and that it planned to mobilise further capital from public and private investors alongside its own resources.
The membership expansion is the latest step in Afreximbank’s broader push to deepen intra-African trade and industrialisation. The bank has also set up the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, adopted by the African Union as the settlement platform underpinning the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Afreximbank has also established a $10 billion Adjustment Fund with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Union to support countries implementing the free-trade pact.
At the end of December 2025, Afreximbank’s total assets and contingencies stood at more than $48.5 billion, with shareholder funds of $8.4 billion, according to the bank. It carries investment-grade ratings from several agencies, including S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s.
Afreximbank, headquartered in Cairo, is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote trade within Africa and between the continent and the rest of the world. It has operated for more than 30 years.
FEDA was established as Afreximbank’s impact investment subsidiary to help close what the bank has described as a multibillion-dollar funding gap, particularly in equity financing, needed to transform Africa’s trade sector.
The fund pursues investments along value chains including financial services, technology, consumer goods, manufacturing, transport and logistics, agribusiness and industrial parks.
