Absa and DHL will launch a joint programme offering trade finance and logistics support to SMEs in South Africa in September, with plans to expand it across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Johannesburg-based bank is joining forces with DHL Express, the express delivery and parcel shipping division of the logistics giant, through its GoTrade initiative – a global programme that helps small businesses tackle the barriers that keep them from trading internationally, from limited logistics knowledge to financing constraints.
Faisal Mkhize, Absa’s managing executive for business development, business banking pan-Africa, told GTR that the partnership will initially launch across its South African market between September and October following a signing ceremony in the first week of September.
Under the partnership, DHL will provide facilitators and trade lane experts to deliver logistics and cross-border trade training to SMEs through Absa’s network. In turn, Absa will contribute “capacity-building support” and access to its existing trade finance products, Mkhize said.
The joint effort is still in its early stages, but Absa expects a phased rollout to other major African markets following the South African launch, including Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.
The bank has already piloted the approach in East Africa, reporting strong results in Uganda and early progress in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania.
“We’ve seen the positive response in the markets where we’ve tested this, and we believe that particularly in the SADC [Southern African Development Community] region we have a big opportunity to take some of the learnings and then implement them,” Mkhize said.
He added the programme’s implementation would sit primarily with Absa’s trade product teams alongside its client-facing coverage businesses.
“We don’t want to be printing immediate revenues at the back of this programme – we want to make sure that we are able to build capabilities and future traders, future clients in this space,” he said.
“We believe we have a responsibility to create the capacity that is required, so that people can take advantage of the trade that exists between countries where there are limitations in terms of knowledge and funding.”
Under the programme, Absa will repurpose its existing SME trade finance instruments – including products originally designed to “simplify funding protocols for startups” engaged in cross-border trade, with scope for further customisation as needs emerge.
Mkhize said that, as part of their green logistics financing focus, Absa’s approach for startups with confirmed orders but limited track record would be to offer more flexible facilities “that are temporary but very much linked to capacity building” in place of the guarantees and balance-sheet backing required from established borrowers.
Programme access is not conditional on SMEs having a banking relationship with Absa, Mkhize said, describing the initiative as “capacity-building” rather than “a near-term commercial play”.
While the bank does not yet have specific SME reach or lending volume targets for the partnership, Absa’s near-term goal is to report on client numbers, benefits and identified gaps from the programme by the end of 2026.
It will also complete a “state of readiness” assessment for neighbouring countries, which will inform formal KPIs for the following three years, Mkhize said.
Absa’s South African SME base alone runs to more than 400,000 clients, he added.
Absa joins fellow South African lender Standard Bank as a GoTrade banking partner. Standard Bank, together with South African multinational telecommunications company MTN and the country’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), unveiled its own GoTrade partnership on August 12, combining the bank’s trade finance and Export Readiness Programme with MTN’s digital capability-building and dtic-led trade advocacy.
Mkhize said Standard Bank’s agreement was South Africa-specific, while Absa’s agreement with DHL carries a pan-African mandate, drawing on its East Africa pilot experience.
