An estimated 335 million businesses across Africa may not be able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement AfCFTA, Secretary-General Wamkele Mene has indicated.
Speaking at a public lecture organised by the University of Dar Es Salaam on Monday, 28 June 2021 under the theme: ‘The AfCFTA and the new age of African enterprise’, Mr Mene noted: “While AfCFTA promises real prospects for growth-oriented businesses, a major concern in its implementation is the estimated 335 million businesses across Africa which are the direct beneficiaries but which remain informal. Remaining informal diminishes their ability to take advantage of opportunities offered under the agreement”.
Mr Mene explained that industrialisation in Africa can therefore not happen without its entrepreneurs and also continental economic integration as entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are critical to every economy by creating innovative goods and jobs, promoting a competitive environment and economic growth, and facilitating income distribution.
“SMEs have a critical role to play in accelerating economic development, serving the unmet needs of African markets, and especially creating jobs,” he said.
However, to effectively leverage AfCFTA, the Secretary-General stated that there must be an acceleration of Africa’s industrialisation with renewed impetus and vigour.
Implementation of the AfCFTA is expected to result in 97 per cent of Africa’s products being traded at zero duty in less than 15 years with the aim of increasing trade and investment and significantly boosting the continent’s efforts at industrialisation.
Additional objectives of the AfCFTA are to facilitate the establishment of essential regional value chains, where two or more regional member states are jointly involved in producing for some other country or for themselves, which could accelerate Africa’s integration into the global economy.
In view of this, Mr Mene said AfCFTA is creating a new narrative that should inspire talented African youth, living in any part of the continent, to imagine opportunities across the value chain and to pursue entrepreneurship in the various sectors.
Source: Classfmonline.com