Afreximbank’s bold bet on the Caribbean is paying off

By Kurt Campbell in Abuja, Nigeria

Kurt@newsroom.gy

Afreximbank’s presence in the Caribbean is no longer just talk —it’s becoming transformational. And according to the Bank’s Regional Chief Operating Officer for the Caribbean, Mr. Okechukwu Iherjirika, the proof lies in the deals being done, the partnerships being built and the infrastructure now taking shape on the ground.

Speaking to News Room on the sidelines of the 32nd Annual Afreximbank Meetings at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja on Wednesday, Iherjirika painted a confident picture of where the Bank’s Caribbean office, headquartered in Barbados, is headed by the end of 2025.

“We want to be known as doers,” Iherjirika said.

“Success means closing deals, launching funds, enabling exports and making finance accessible where traditional lenders won’t go.”

Since its launch in 2023, the Bank’s Caribbean operations have rapidly evolved from diplomatic handshakes to serious investments. By the end of 2025, Iherjirika said the Bank aims to have several key initiatives in motion or completed.

It includes: a dedicated fund for sustainable energy, being developed with the CARICOM Development Fund; a feasibility study on the establishment of a CARICOM Exim Bank, in partnership with the CARICOM Secretariat and a state-of-the-art Afreximbank building in Barbados, dubbed the Africa Centre.

Perhaps most powerful is the representation attached to the bank’s physical presence in the Caribbean. The upcoming Africa Centre in Barbados is not just another office; it’s intended as a cultural and economic landmark.

“It will be an iconic structure,” Iherjirika declared.

“In a place once used as a port for enslaved Africans, we are now building a bridge back, on our terms. This time, we’re coming to invest, to partner, to uplift.”

Afreximbank is also doubling down on its Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) platform launched in 2022 in Barbados, held in 2023 in Guyana and hosted again in The Bahamas in 2024.

“We want to see Caribbean producers exporting to Africa,” Iherjirika said.

“They shouldn’t just be producing for 300,000 people—they should be reaching a market of 1.2 billion.”

The Bank is working to bring small businesses and entrepreneurs from both regions together under ACTIF, to be held again in July 2025 in Grenada.

This means not just trade in goods, but also the exchange of ideas, technology, and joint ventures like one recent example of an African company seeking to co-fund manufactuirng in the Caribbean.

For Afreximbank, 2025 is shaping up to be a defining year for its Caribbean strategy. The Bank’s efforts are moving beyond gestures to real economic scaffolding. Iherjirika’s message to regional policymakers, youth, and business owners is simple: Get involved.

“We’re laying the foundation—literally and figuratively,” he said.

“We’ve broken ground. Now we want the Caribbean to build with us.”

Afreximbank commitments remain to bridge centuries-old divides through finance, trade and shared ambition.