International trade is one of the biggest opportunities for local businesses to grow given the ongoing concerns around the rising budget deficit, continued unemployment and slowing GDP growth in the country, according to Wayne Epstein, executive co-head of Standard Bank’s Moonshots division.“There are areas where import and export opportunities are expanding for African companies. China is already a significant import and export trading partner with the continent. Intra African trade is also likely to be further encouraged once the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), comes into being,” he said.According to Epstein companies, however, need to be aware of the challenges and risks associated with global trade.“Lack of trust is one of the key challenges when a company looks to trade internationally: the supplier has concerns about being paid and the buyer has concerns about getting the goods they ordered on time - and those goods meeting their quality requirements. It’s essential to have a relationship with your counter party,” he advised.Epstein said one of the biggest impediments to trade, however, remained the lack of access to finance and insufficient working capital.“An importer may typically be required to pay a foreign supplier before being able to generate cash from selling those goods months later. This cashf low crunch is exacerbated for companies that are growing. A further risk is currency f luctuations. The rand, for example, is one of the most volatile currencies currently in emerging markets, and currency volatility adds significant risk to importers and exporters.”According to Epstein it was with these challenges in mind that Standard Bank developed an end-to-end international trade proposition drawing on a suite of banking and non-banking trade solutions.Known as the Standard Bank TradeSuite, it offers businesses a single point of contact for all their clients’ importation requirements – from order to final delivery. “This is comparable to a private banker for imports,” explained Epstein.The service also includes supplier tracking, liaising with logistics service providers and monitoring the goods while they are in transit, and ensuring customs is cleared timeously