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Cover Story AGF’s plan to unlock £10bn SME funding

Editorial 5 Celebrating African banking

News in Brief 6 Banking sector news from around the continent

African Banker’s World 13 Who’s going where in the African banking industry

Cover Story: 16 AGF plans to unlock $10bn SME funding 20 Africa’s women entrepreneurs to the fore

A Sharper Focus 22 Gender diversity is good for business

In Conversation 24 Prof. Vincent O. Nmehielle, Secretary-General, AfDB 26 Manuel Moses, CEO, African Trade Insurance Agency

Events 30 African Banker Awards 2023 nominees Finance 32 High interest rates hammer Africa

Essay 35 US financial turmoil set

to benefit African countries

In Conversation 38 Alain Ebobissé CEO,

Africa50 42 Coura Sène,

WAEMU Regional Director, Wave

The Bigger Picture 44 Bank profits up but productivity remains low

African Capital Markets 46 IMF’s Selassie call for another Gleneagles moment 48 Egypt’s big privatisation implementation 48 Drinks giant Diageo swigs down another 15% of EABL 48 Realtor WestProp to raise $37m on

Victoria Falls bourse 49 S Africa’s Premier Group offers shares on JSE

In Conversation 50 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,

DG, WTO 56 Nejia Gharbi,

CEO, CDC Tunisia Events 58 The African Central Bank Conference 2023 In Conversation 60 Lesetja Kganyago,

Governor SARB 62 Michael Atingi-Ego, Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda 64 Pedro Casto e Silva, Deputy Governor,

National Bank of Angola

Country Focus 66 Nigeria: The challenge of removing fuel subsidies 68 Currency woes hurt business 70 Interview: Idorenyin Obong, Co-founder, Grey Inc. 72 South Africa: Banks survive testing environment

The Last Word 74 China to the rescue?