By Mekonnen Teshome
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: President and CEO of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Ms. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi has called on African young entrepreneurs to build markets in the continent by transforming small innovations to large scale enterprises.
AfCFTA and Youth in Entrepreneurship
Ms. Owusu-Gyamfi was expressing her views at intergenerational virtual dialogue : “AfCFTA Unlocked: Opportunities and Implications for Youth in Entrepreneurship“ which took place on 26th September 2024 and organized by ACET where she said that the virtual dialogue focused on discussing on how to unlock the African Continental free trade area to create opportunities for young people especially young entrepreneurs.
The President also pointed out โwe are standing at the intersection of two of African most powerful forces – the promise of the Continental Free Trade Area and our young people.โ
Ms.Owusu-Gyamfi indicated that in the recent deliberations of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, two things kept coming up, the global financial challenges and its impact on Africa as well as the tensions of geopolitics and how it is affecting our beloved continent. However, she added, at the heart of all of these discussions, are an incredible network of young Africans who are showcasing their innovations and great works on the continent.
According to the President Africa represents the largest free trade area in the world representing a collective market of 1.3 billion people and currently 3.4 trillion in GDP and yet growing again.
โThere is a reason we have become the most attractive continent to work with. Today we have people from the Middle East, we have people from China, Europe, North America who want to work with Africa,โ she said and added that African young entrepreneurs need to tap this immense potential of the continent together with the opportunity of the free trade area to generate the desperately needed jobs.
Eunice Muthengi, Ag. Sr. Dir. Research and Learning at Mastercard Foundation, on her part said that the intergenerational dialogue focuses on opportunities and the impacts of the African continental free trade area for young entrepreneurs in Africa is such a transformative initiative and has so much potential to increase inter-Africa trade by over 52% and establish a unified market for goods and services
โThe vision of the Mastercard Foundation is a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and Pro-prosper and based on this in 2018 we launched what we call the young Africa work strategy which is a bold strategy that seeks to enable 30 million young people to secure dignified and fulfilling work across Africa by the year 2030 of which 70% should be young women.โ
One of the participants of the Youth Entrepreneurs Panel, Benjamin Tshefu, a south African banking innovation entrepreneur and the Co-Founder of Bang Capital, mentioned that young entrepreneurs are affected by the various policies and regulation from different African countries and that is one of the stumbling blocks that push back them from doing business in Africa.
โ We should stop talking and talking and look to really actionable solutions that we can put into place and one of the things that we actually looked into was how best could those challenges be solved,โ Benjamin said.
He said he has a conviction that the policy challenges faced by young African entrepreneurs could be managed by the five sub-regional blocks of Africa. โIn those regions, the challenges we have are somewhat almost related. So our focus has been that but the biggest issue for us has been regulations that are not harmonized in relations to what AfCFTA stand for,โ Benjamin Added.
Precious DiPhiri, another young entrepreneur panelist from Malawi, who owns and leads a company related to handcraft and lifestyle products said that he faces challenged around logistics and supply as Malawi is a landlocked country. โWe are not closer to the Sea and that causes even more challenges so in instead what we do is use available materials in the country because the logistical challenges lead to increased costs.โ
He pointed out that the lack of access to the sea also adversely affects the product delivery time from his company while exporting to South Africa, Greece and the USA and that has come out a regular problem and customers are always complaining about that.
According to Precious, the other thing that affects his company is related to regulation/policy that requires him a tedious documentation works for his import and export activities consuming a lot of time and resources.
Initiated By ACET and Mastercard Foundation
The intergenerational virtual dialogue hosted by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), a pan-African economic policy institute supporting Africa’s long-term growth through transformation, and Mastercard Foundation brought together young African entrepreneurs, policy makers, regional development partners among others to discuss the opportunities and implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for Youth in Entrepreneurship.
AfCFTA is more than just a trade agreement; it is a monumental step towards the economic integration of Africa. Operational since January 1, 2021, AfCFTA stands as the worldโs largest free trade area, encompassing 54 countries, over 1.3 billion people, and a combined GDP exceeding US$3.4 trillion.
The initiative envisages eliminating tariffs on 90 percent of goods and reducing trade barriers, AfCFTA is set to revolutionize intra-African trade, fostering economic cooperation and regional integration.
According to ACET, the AfCFTA offers young entrepreneurs unprecedented access to a vast, integrated market, potentially creating millions of jobs and driving industrialization across Africa. At the core of this transformation is Africaโs youth, who make up over 60 percent of the continentโs population, ACET underlines.
However, despite these promising prospects, many young Africans remain uninformed about AfCFTA and its benefits, leaving them unable to tap into the opportunities it presents. That is why the intergenerational virtual dialogue necessitated.
The virtual dialogue was designed by ACET to bridge the knowledge gap and empower young entrepreneurs across Africa to leverage the AfCFTA for business growth and economic transformation.