The QTFE playbook behind a trade professional's rise

My name is Moses Achanga. I'm currently working at Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited, which is a member of Standard Bank Group of South Africa. My current role is a Team Leader in the trade operations department.

A Typical day for me involves, reviewing transactions done by the people who report directly to me. in trade operations, we process LCs, guarantees, bills discounting, and all the other trade finance products and my role then would be to have a second level of checking those transactions.

Once they've been processed by my team members then I check for correctness. If everything is okay, we finalise the transaction.

My professional education journey has been prompted by a desire to grow professionally, especially in trade finance, once I landed in this space I enjoyed the role and wanted to grow in it. Apart from pursuing academic qualifications, such as my undergraduate degree, I'm also pursuing my MBA.

I think it's important to grow professionally, by acquiring qualifications and certifications. What attracted me to study with LIBF is that LIBF is a household name in the trade finance space because the institution has been granting these qualifications for over a century, it's a name that I used to hear a lot from my seniors, on LinkedIn – I could see people getting qualifications from LIBF and it is something that, picked my interest from the onset. I decided to take the journey and acquire the qualifications from LIBF.​

The international trade is really evolving more and more clients are becoming aware of these trade finance instruments, especially letters of credit when importing or exporting goods. So it's imperative for bankers, logistics professionals, even traders – to have the knowledge about UCP 600, about Incoterms. So when you take the CDCS course, it really, depends your understanding of the space and, it also helps you to tackle all the transactions professionally while at the same time mitigating risks. Getting this qualification, it has helped me do my job better. Occasionally we're also called by the trade product team to participate in structuring transactions, it has helped me be confident, more knowledgeable, and able to participate meaningfully in these discussions.

In my day-to-day work, I handle a lot of guarantees and standby letters of credit. I decided to pursue this qualification so that I can have a better understanding of how they work, the guarantees that are not prevalent in the Kenyan and African markets, how they're handled elsewhere. This course targets a holistic kind of training so that by the end of it, you'll have a thorough understanding of demand guarantees and standby LCs and how they work.

The knowledge I've gained from this qualification has come in handy because I handle these transactions on a day-to-day basis. Reviewing the format that have been given to us by clients and making sure they're in line with the URDG, is really important to ensure that you deliver excellent service to clients.

What I love about CSDG is that I'm now able to join the group of people who can say they are qualified professionals in handling demand guarantees. At the same time, it really helps make my work easier because the knowledge gained through this training is something that I get to use on a daily basis.

I'd definitely recommend the CSDG qualification to other professionals, whether you are in banking or you are in farms that do imports and exports, or construction companies that need to take out, guarantees from time to time- it's an important qualification and training that will help you better understand demand guarantees and SLCs as a whole.

Through studying the CITR qualification, I've been able to understand risks in trade better. I use this daily when advising clients, when we are issuing letters of credit, I know exactly the kind of documentation that I should advise my clients to include. If they want goods from a particular country, I tell them we must insist on a certificate of origin indicating where the goods are coming from.

I will also advise them that we need to ask for an inspection certificate to make sure that the goods they're importing are up to the required standards. This has helped clients avoid making losses by receiving substandard goods or goods from jurisdictions that they do not prefer. I enjoy helping my clients with the knowledge that I've gained. During the training, there were quite a number of practical case studies. These case studies help you, gain a broader understanding of the risks that are faced by traders on a day-to-day basis.

Ever since I received an email from LIBF that there's this new diploma called QTFE that you get after attaining a number of other qualifications. I made it my goal to acquire this in the shortest time possible, I did that by sitting CSDG, CDCS and CITR. I really feel nice that I've gotten the QTFE, but over-and-above that – it is the knowledge that I've gained throughout this process. I'm a better trade professional in handling trade products, especially letters of credit and demand guarantees. Having that badge alongside my name on LinkedIn and on my CV is really, the cherry on top.​

I would recommend to any trade professional to acquire the QTFE because it's a journey, so you're not going to sit for one exam and get this diploma. It's a journey through various trainings and certifications after which you'll be given this. By the time you acquire the QTFE Diploma, you'll have learned a lot.

You'll have gained better understanding, deeper knowledge about trade products, the rules that are involved in trade transactions, as well as the risks involved in various trade finance products.​

If you're struggling to break into the trade finance space, my advice would be to not give up. Obtain the necessary certifications, many of which are offered by LIBF, so that when jobs are advertised in this space, apart from having experience, you at least have the required minimum qualifications.