- Bank overdraft / credit line: A pre-approved borrowing facility from your bank. Flexible but requires strong credit history and collateral.
- Invoice discounting: Selling your unpaid invoices to a lender at a small discount to get cash now, rather than waiting for your buyer to pay. No debt on balance sheet.
- Letter of Credit (LC): A bank guarantee that payment will be made once agreed conditions (delivery, documentation) are met. Reduces risk for both parties.
- Fintech / digital lender: Faster, less paperwork-heavy alternatives to banks. Examples in Africa include Credable, Lulalend, Payhippo, and MarketForce.
The currency your business reports its financials in. All cost and capital inputs display in this currency. Auto-set from your home country — change if you report in USD or EUR.
- Sea Freight: Cheapest option for large or heavy goods. Transit typically 14–35 days depending on corridor. Best for non-perishable FMCG, agri-commodities, and general cargo.
- Air Freight: Fast (2–7 days) but typically 3–6× more expensive than sea. Essential for high-value goods, pharmaceuticals, perishables, or urgent shipments.
- Road / Overland: Best for intra-Africa trade, especially for land-locked countries. Typically 3–14 days. Cost-effective for regional routes but subject to border crossing delays.
- Multimodal: Combines two or more modes (e.g., truck to port, then sea freight). Common for complex African routes. Offers flexibility but adds coordination complexity.
- EXW (Ex Works): You collect goods from the seller's premises. As buyer, you handle everything — loading, transport, customs, insurance. Maximum responsibility on you. Not recommended for first-time importers.
- FOB (Free on Board): Seller delivers to the origin port and loads onto the vessel. Risk transfers to you once goods are on board. Most common term for sea freight trade. You arrange freight and insurance from that point.
- CIF (Cost, Insurance & Freight): Seller pays for freight and insurance to the destination port. Risk transfers at origin port, but seller manages logistics to destination. Simpler for buyers; slightly higher cost.
- DAP (Delivered At Place): Seller delivers to your named location but you handle import customs and duties. Good middle ground.
- DDP (Delivered Duty Paid): Seller handles everything — freight, insurance, import duties. Maximum convenience for you as buyer. Highest cost. Common in e-commerce.
- Advance payment: Buyer pays before you ship. Best for your cash flow, but requires high buyer trust. Common with new exporters or high-risk corridors.
- Net 30 / 45 / 60 / 90 / 120: You ship the goods and get paid X days later. Net 60 is standard for many African trade routes. Longer terms (90–120 days) are common in large retail or European buyer relationships.
- Letter of Credit (LC): A bank instrument where the buyer's bank guarantees payment once you present shipping documents. More secure than open account but involves bank fees and paperwork. Typical processing adds ~15–45 days.
When your supplier requires payment. Advance payment means your cash is deployed before goods even ship — this extends your total exposure window significantly.
Production or procurement time before goods are ready to ship. Typical: 7–30 days for manufactured goods, 1–7 days for trading.
Leave blank to use the auto-estimate, or enter your known transit time.
The currency on your commercial invoice. Sets the symbol on the value field and drives FX risk calculation.
Enter the value on your commercial invoice for this shipment.
Auto-derived from commercial invoice currency vs your home country currency.
- Example: You export goods priced at $10,000 USD to a Nigerian buyer who pays in Naira. If the Naira depreciates 15% between when you agree the price and when you receive payment, your effective USD receipt drops to $8,500 — a $1,500 loss with no change in sales volume.
- Most vulnerable routes: African exporters selling to African buyers in local currency. Many African currencies (NGN, GHS, EGP, ZMW) have depreciated 30–80% against USD in the last 5 years.
- Lower risk situations: Pricing in USD or EUR, GCC currencies (AED, SAR, QAR) which maintain USD pegs, or trading between Eurozone countries.
- How to reduce FX risk: Price in USD or EUR where possible; use forward contracts to lock in exchange rates; build a currency buffer into your pricing; shorten payment cycles to reduce exposure window.
Enter the actual amount you paid your supplier for this shipment. The tool will calculate this as a % of your shipment value automatically.
- Example: If your shipment sells for $25,000 and you bought the goods for $13,750, enter $13,750. The tool will calculate 55% internally.
- Strong margins (40–55%): Branded goods, niche manufacturing.
- Standard margins (55–75%): FMCG, agri-products, general cross-border trade.
- Thin margins (75–90%): Commodity trading, bulk agri-exports.
Enter your total freight, handling, and forwarding costs for this shipment. The tool calculates % of value internally.
- Freight charges (sea, air, or road)
- Insurance (typically 0.5–1% of shipment value)
- Port handling and terminal fees
- Inland transport (truck from factory to port, or port to warehouse)
- Freight forwarder / agent fees
- Document preparation (Bill of Lading, packing lists, certificates)
Enter your actual HS-code duty rate. Sector guidance: Pharma 0–10%, Agri 0–25%, FMCG 5–25%, Textiles 10–35%. AfCFTA/EPA routes may be 0%.
- Find your HS Code: Every traded product has a Harmonised System (HS) code. Search "HS code [your product]" or use the WTO tariff tool at tariffanalysis.wto.org.
- Look up destination tariffs: Use your HS code on the destination customs authority website to get the exact rate.
- Trade agreements: AfCFTA (intra-Africa), GCC preferential rules, or EU-Africa EPAs may reduce your rate to 0% or significantly lower.
- VAT / GST is separate: Import duty ≠ VAT. Both may be levied at border — factor both into your cash flow.
Charged at customs on CIF value + duty. Common rates: South Africa 15% · Nigeria 7.5% · Kenya 16% · Ghana 12.5% · Egypt 14% · Morocco 20% · Tanzania 18%. Update with your actual rate.
- Example: Importing $20,000 of goods into South Africa, with $2,500 freight + $2,000 duty = $24,500 customs value. VAT at 15% = $3,675 payable at clearance — before any goods are sold.
- VAT is usually recoverable for VAT-registered businesses — but recovery takes 30–90 days, creating a cash gap in the interim.
- If your business is not VAT-registered, this is a permanent cost of importing.
Licensed customs clearing agents are mandatory or strongly advisable in most African import corridors. Typical fees: 0.5–1.5% of CIF value (minimum ~$300–500). Get a quote from your freight forwarder.
- In South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya a licensed agent is mandatory for commercial imports.
- Fees include: service fee, port handling surcharges, document lodgement, and delivery order charges.
- Always request a full itemised quote — hidden charges (THC, documentation, RORO) can add 30–50% to the headline rate.
Absolute amount for any costs not captured above. E.g. pre-shipment inspection fees, regulatory fees (SFDA, SAHPRA), cold chain surcharges, customs agent fees, compliance testing.
Cash + credit lines deployable on this specific trade before receiving payment. Includes overdraft facilities and pre-approved credit — not your total bank balance.
- Enter what you can deploy on this specific trade without affecting other operations.
- Includes: cash in business account, available overdraft, or pre-approved credit lines.
- If working capital < total trade costs, you have a cash gap. The tool will identify this and recommend financing options.
The days exposed figure is the total number of days your cash is deployed without a corresponding inflow — from the first moment you spend money to the last moment you receive payment. It is not just transit time. It is the full financial journey of a single trade cycle.
For importers, the clock starts when you commit cash to your supplier:
If you pay in advance, your money leaves before goods are even produced — the entire pre-shipment lead time (production + preparation) runs at your financial risk. Once goods ship, transit time is also at your expense. Depending on your Incoterm, your payment obligation is triggered either at the Bill of Lading date (FOB, CIF) or on proof of delivery (DAP, DDP) — this determines whether transit runs inside or outside your payment window. After goods arrive, clearing and any days-to-sell period extend the cycle further. Only when your customer settles their invoice does the exposure window close. Days Exposed = Pre-Shipment Lead Time + Transit (if outside payment window) + Customer Payment Terms + Days to Sell.
For exporters, the clock starts when production costs are first incurred:
You begin spending on raw materials, labour, and overheads before a single unit ships. That pre-shipment period is your first tranche of exposure. Once goods leave your facility, transit runs at your cost — you hold neither the goods nor the payment. Your buyer's credit terms then determine how long after delivery you must wait to be paid. If your buyer has Net 60 terms and transit takes 21 days, you are funding 21 + 60 = 81 days of cash deployment on top of your pre-shipment period. Days Exposed = Pre-Shipment Lead Time + Transit + Customer Payment Terms. Advance payment from your buyer compresses this to the pre-shipment window only — the single most effective working capital lever available to an exporter.
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Max-Forge Advisors · Cross-Border Trade Intelligence · Results are indicative and for strategic planning purposes only.