Amanda Jojo

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with Empowered Women Excel has officially launched the MANSA platform in Zimbabwe to promote investment opportunities and increase trade through access to customer due diligence.

MANSA is a pan-African customer due diligence repository for financial institutions, corporate entities and Small to Medium Enterprises developed to address the perceived risk of doing business in Africa.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the MANSA platform in Zimbabwe, Head of the Afreximbank MANSA initiative, Maureen Nheka said the platform is afrocentric and drives investment in Africa by highlighting the comparative advantages of African countries.

“The MANSA is a child of necessity and circumstance that came when Africa needed it the most and it is here to address challenges of not having adequate information about our entities.

“It provides you with the investment climate, the GDP and all the information one needs to know about doing business in Zimbabwe for instance its primary produce,” said Nheka.

She emphasized on the importance of uploading credible information by business people on the MANSA platform. She further encouraged business people using MANSA to update their information regularly so to retain credibility.

Chief Executive Officer of Empowered Woman Excel Edna Mukurazhizha said the platform is going to be a game changer because it is going to change the way people have been running businesses.

“We have individuals, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates wanting to do business but they do not have access to capital if you look at some of the businesses in Zimbabwe they are getting very expensive funding for their business because information about their business is not available.

“So once we upload your information on MANSA and Afreximbank platform, investors in different continents will have access to it and one can have access to the much needed capital as well as credit lines,” Mukurazhizha said.

She underscored the importance of facilitating data gathering, capturing and uploading since access to information is key to potential investors.