As Executive Vice President, Kanayo Awani will manage all of Afreximbank’s Intra-African business activities, including the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Awani, who has successfully served as managing director of Afreximbank's Intra-African Trade Initiative since 2016, was appointed by the bank’s board earlier this month . The bank said she was crucial in realising its Intra-African Trade Strategy, spearheading its commitment to support the establishment and implementation of the AfCFTA that resulted in the signing of the deal in Kigali in March 2018. Under her leadership, the Pan-African bank plans to double down its support for trade within the continent.

From 2009 to 2016, she oversaw Afreximbank’s Trade, Finance and Branches department, which became its most lucrative unit, accounting for more than 80 percent of its loan book. Awani has helped to grow the bank’s trade business from around three percent in 2016, when she became managing director, to 28 percent by the end of 2021, distributing $20 billion in five years to boost investment and trade on the continent, Afreximbank said. She was also the driving force behind the establishment and deployment of the bank’s Intra-African Trade Champions programme that facilitated “African conglomerates” and “made in Africa products” by enabling African firms to expand into other countries in Africa. 

Awani has garnered decades of experience in the banking sector by serving in senior management roles at major international companies such as Citigroup, where she spent 18 years until 2008. She rose through the ranks at the American multinational investment bank before being appointed vice president/head of Industrial and Commercial Corporates of its Nigeria office. Prior to that Awani had responsibilities in trade services and operations, corporate finance, and corporate banking. 

According to Afreximbank, Awani was recommended to take the helm at Intra-African Trade Bank (INAT) by bank president, Prof. Benedict Oramah, before approval from the board of directors on 13 June. ​​The appointment was announced last week at Afreximbank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, and will take effect from July 2022.