Absa and DHL Partner to Drive SME Cross-Border Trade Across Africa

Absa and DHL are preparing to roll out a joint trade partnership in September, uniting the Johannesburg-based bank with DHL Express to offer combined trade finance and logistics support to small and medium enterprises in South Africa before expanding across Sub-Saharan Africa. Faisal Mkhize, Absa's managing executive for business development, business banking pan-Africa, confirmed that the initiative stems from DHL's GoTrade initiative, which is designed to help small businesses tackle international trading barriers ranging from limited logistics knowledge to persistent financing constraints.

Under the terms of the agreement, DHL will provide facilitators and trade lane experts to deliver targeted logistics and cross-border trade training to small businesses through the existing Absa network. In return, Absa will contribute capacity-building support alongside access to its trade finance products. Following a formal signing ceremony scheduled for the first week of September, the programme will officially launch across South Africa between September and October, with a phased rollout subsequently planned for major regional markets including Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia.

This structured collaboration follows successful pilot tests conducted by Absa in East Africa, which yielded strong results in Uganda alongside early progress in Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. Implementation will be managed primarily by Absa trade product teams and client-facing coverage businesses. Rather than targeting immediate revenue generation, executive leadership has stressed that the operational focus remains centered on building long-term capabilities and developing future traders and clients within underserved markets where knowledge and funding limitations persist.

Program access will not be strictly conditional on SMEs maintaining an existing banking relationship with Absa, positioning the arrangement as a capacity-building effort rather than a near-term commercial play. Absa plans to repurpose existing SME trade finance instruments originally designed to simplify funding protocols for startups, incorporating flexible facilities linked to capacity building and green logistics financing for startups with confirmed orders. The bank's South African SME client base alone comprises more than 400,000 clients, with a near-term goal to report on client numbers, benefits, and identified gaps by the end of 2026.

Why This Matters

Small and medium enterprises across the continent routinely confront severe structural barriers when attempting to scale beyond domestic markets, primarily due to fragmented supply chains, opaque regulatory environments, and a profound lack of specialized trade knowledge. By bridging the operational divide between physical logistics execution and working capital availability, this partnership addresses the root causes of trade exclusion rather than merely treating liquidity symptoms. Financing models that accommodate startups with confirmed orders but limited balance-sheet history demonstrate a critical evolution in corporate risk appetite, moving away from rigid collateral demands toward developmental underwriting.

The regional scope of the rollout carries important implications for intra-African commerce, particularly within the Southern African Development Community. Building on pilot insights gathered in East Africa allows financial institutions to refine cross-border protocols before entering new jurisdictions, mitigating regulatory and operational friction. Furthermore, decoupling programme eligibility from pre-existing bank accounts broadens the potential beneficiary pool, enabling informal or unbanked operators to integrate into formal trade corridors and supply chains.

Opportunities

• SME Operators: Access structured cross-border trade training, logistics expertise, and flexible trade finance instruments without mandatory prior banking relationships with Absa.
• Trade Financiers: Evaluate alternative underwriting models that replace traditional balance-sheet guarantees with capacity-building frameworks and order-linked temporary facilities.
• Logistics Providers: Partner with financial institutions to deploy trade lane experts and facilitators directly into regional enterprise networks to unlock dormant cargo volumes.

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