UKI Uganda Limited can get its goods across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo without much trouble. Getting paid for them has been the harder part. The Mbale-based manufacturer, importer and exporter has spent years routing customer payments through third-party agents and multiple banks as it expanded across East and Central Africa, a process that ate into both time and margins. Now it’s leaning on Equity Bank’s presence in Uganda, Kenya and the DRC to cut out the middlemen.“Our customers in the DRC need a simpler way to pay for their supplies. Relying on local payment agents takes time and slows down business,” said Anant Kumar Manjithia, managing director of UKI Uganda Limited. “We want to test a direct model where buyers in Congo can deposit funds into our account seamlessly, quickly and without extra charges.”The mechanics: Equity Bank Uganda’s head of SME, Olivia Mugaba, said exporters can use non-resident collection accounts to gather local sales proceeds in markets like the DRC and repatriate the funds, subject to the relevant export licences and regulations. For UKI, that means Congolese buyers can eventually pay directly into a local account rather than through an agent chain.Equity Bank Uganda managing director Gift Shoko said the bank’s regional footprint is designed to give exactly this kind of edge to businesses trading across African markets.The relationship isn’t limited to moving money. Equity is also providing customised financing and capacity-building support across UKI’s wider network of distributors and employees.The stakes go beyond one company’s cash flow. As intra-African trade expands, deals like this one point to a quieter constraint on growth: manufacturers can find new markets faster than they can get paid from them. Faster settlement means faster restocking and a better shot at keeping up with regional demand, which, for exporters scaling across borders, may matter as much as finding the customer in the first place.The post For this Mbale exporter, real border crossing is the bank transfer appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.