A delegation of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, led by Ms. Arunma Oteh (OON), the Director General, paid a visit to the East Africa Exchange (EAX) during the 49th Annual African Development Bank (AfDB) meetings in Kigali, Rwanda last week. Ms. Oteh called in to acquaint her group with the Exchange’s operations as well as witness the progress the Exchange has made since it began operations in 2013.

Also visiting was Mr. Samuel Nwanze, a board member of the Exchange and Finance Director of Heirs Holdings, the proprietary investment company owned by Tony O. Elumelu, one of the Exchange’s key partners, as well as Mr. Christopher Marks, former Global Head of Debt Capital, BNP Paribas Bank (France).

The CEO of the East Africa Exchange, Mr. Paul Kukubo, briefed the delegation on the Exchange’s current activities in Rwanda and expansion strategies for the East African region. Mr. Kukubo explained the Exchange’s regional focus and launching of new offices in Kenya and Uganda.

He also explained that the Rwandan Government has recently made available 13 warehouses located in several grain production sites of the country in support of farmer cooperative groups.

Among others, the Exchange will support farmers to address post-harvest losses through better storage and collateral management. The Exchange has signed up Collateral Management International, a highly reputable collateral manager worldwide to support the farmers in addressing post-harvest losses and improve farmer’s income. The Exchange will also provide the farmers access to finance, linking them to banks through its electronic warehouse receipts programme, as well as providing a trading platform for the farmers to trade their product. An electronic warehouse receipt represents commodities stored in an exchange-accredited warehouse with specific quality, quantity, ownership, and reference location stated on the receipt. The integrity of the receipt is guaranteed by a collateral manager who maintains the quality and quantity of stored commodities.

Ms. Oteh congratulated EAX for the initiatives to support smallholder farmers to reduce post-harvest losses and improve their income as well as progress in linking commodity markets across the East African Community area, and promoting cross border trade across the region. She stressed that Nigeria has a similar effort and that the two counties can share common experiences.

The EAX Trading Manager Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju demonstrated the use of the NASDAQ trading platform, and explained that so far over 200 users including farmers have been trained and used the platform for trading since the Exchange operations commenced.

•Photo shows, L-R: Paul Kukubo, CEO, East Africa Exchange; Arunma Oteh, Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria; and Jendayi Frazer, Africa Exchange Holdings.