Kenya and South Africa are emerging as key markets in Zvilo Group’s African expansion strategy, as the London-based trade finance firm seeks to increase funding for small businesses and reach $2.3 billion in annual financing by 2030.
The company is expanding across sub-Saharan Africa to address a persistent challenge facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited access to working capital, particularly when suppliers must wait weeks for large customers to settle invoices.
South Africa is already a key part of the strategy, with Zvilo targeting an initial working-capital deployment of approximately $120 million. Kenya, meanwhile, is among the markets the company plans to enter by 2028, alongside Nigeria, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania.
“We have ambitions to grow our sub-Saharan Africa business to 60% of our loan book by 2030,” Zvilo Africa Chief Executive Officer Peter Maila said in an interview with Bloomberg.
The expansion would make Africa the company’s largest market by the end of the decade, reflecting its growing focus on businesses that struggle to secure affordable financing through traditional banking channels.
South Africa Gets Initial $120 Million Financing Target
In South Africa, Zvilo plans to deploy approximately $120 million in working capital initially, with ambitions to increase the amount to about $600 million over three to five years.
The company is targeting partnerships with major listed businesses, including retailers, banks, insurers and mining companies, to finance suppliers within their supply chains.
“We are in the market raising 2 billion rand and we have secured 50% of that already,” Maila said, adding that the company was moving towards deploying the capital.
Zvilo’s financing model seeks to address the cash-flow pressures experienced by suppliers whose customers take between 30 and 60 days to pay invoices. During that period, smaller businesses may struggle to pay employees, replenish stock or purchase raw materials despite having confirmed sales.
The company advances financing against eligible supply-chain transactions, charges a fee on the invoice value and recovers the funds when the buyer settles the invoice.
The planned expansion will offer another potential source of working capital for Kenyan businesses, particularly for suppliers serving large retailers, manufacturers and other corporate customers. However, the company has not yet announced a specific financing allocation for Kenya.
Nine Markets Targeted as Africa’s Trade Finance Gap Persists
Zvilo plans to establish a presence in Sierra Leone by the end of 2026. By 2028, it expects to expand into Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania, followed by Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2029.
The company plans to increase its annual financing disbursements to approximately $1.1 billion by 2028 before reaching its $2.3 billion target in 2030. It has already disbursed more than $501 million to businesses across 41 countries, according to the Bloomberg report.
Zvilo’s ambitions come against an estimated $120 billion trade finance gap in Africa, within a global shortfall of approximately $2.5 trillion.
Limited access to trade finance can prevent businesses from fulfilling orders, importing inputs and expanding into new markets. By financing transactions linked to established buyers, providers such as Zvilo aim to unlock liquidity without requiring smaller suppliers to wait for payment.
The company also intends to expand the number of businesses it supports from nearly 4,000 currently to 15,000 by 2030.