Registration opens for 2022 COTFIA program
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the opening of registration for the 7th cohort of the Certificate of Trade Finance in Africa (COTRIA) programme for its partner organisations.
It is a remodelled programme that replaces the 2022 Certificate of International Trade Finance (COFTIA), which has been running since 2016. The program has now been updated to align with the new trends in trade finance and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In a press release on Wednesday, Afreximbank said the programme has been organised in collaboration with the FCI, Quarterback, and American University in Cairo to ensure participants acquire quality knowledge and skills.
Afreximbank’s Director and Global Head for Human Resources, Stephen Tio Kauma, said the bank was 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,” he said.
“We would urge partner organisations to enrol their staff members for COTFIA to equip their teams with the indispensable understanding of international trade from this course,” Tio added.
“The 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.”
Mr Tio said America University in Cairo, Egypt, is one of the top listed universities in Africa to replace the University of Melta as the host of the academic program to bring its unique expertise in specialised learning in Africa to bear on the program.
According to him, 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, including import and export business and finance of international trade.
The programme also aims to equip participants with supply chain finance and commercial finance skills, including factoring, invoice discounting, and asset-based lending.
The programme will further discuss the various aspects of the African Continental Free Trade Area that came into implementation on July 1, 2020, and its positive implications for enhancing trade across the African continent.
Given the exceptional circumstances with the COVID -19 pandemic, Mr Tio says the COTFIA 2022 programme will run in a hybrid format with four modules online: two on-campus in Cairo, Egypt, and the last module will be asynchronous online.
The application deadline for the COTFIA 2022 Program will be March 30, 2022, and the first 7 applications will be eligible for a 50 per cent scholarship from Afreximbank on the tuition fee.
