The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) to me, had been one of those astronomical projects that would only exist on paper as a fantastic plan. It is, however, exciting to see it gradually come to fruition and hopefully, it will take shape and fulfil the expected short and long term benefits it espouses.
With a proposed implementation of the AfCFTA in January, I thought it would be useful to get a relatable understanding of what the Agreement means for Nigeria and small businesses in the country. As you would agree, it is a broad topic and there are so many moving components to it. As such, it was an absolute pleasure to have Simeon Umukoro- an International trade expert and economist with over 17 years of professional experience developing and facilitating international trade in West Africa, come share his views on SCwN.
Simeon opened the conversation with a powerful statementwhich informed the topic for this article– “It’s the first of its kind being that Africa is coming together to talk about not aid, but trade.”
Given that the topic for discussion on the Show was AfCFTA: Losing Borders and Integrating for Greatness – it was, for me, a statement of the continent’s turning point and its journey to self-sufficiency leveraging its plethora of resources and synergising to achieve a formidable fort.
According to the World Bank – The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a major opportunity for African countries to bring 30 million people out of extreme poverty and to raise the incomes of 68 million others who live on less than $5.50 per day.West Africa would see the biggest decline in the number of people living in extreme poverty—a decline of 12 million (more than a third of the total for all of Africa).
With this context and expectation of the game-changing effect on development of the African people by the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), one of the questions on my mind was how the continent would actualise these impressive benefits. Small and Medium sized businesses form a critical proportion of the African Economy, and so it was necessary to understand how they would best harness the opportunities that would eventually translate to the highlighted benefits of the Free Trade Agreement.
Simeon shared that, for small businesses to harness the benefits of the CFTA, identifying opportunities and where the money is the first key step followed by a clustering, organising and aggregating approach anchored on similar market interests. He went on tohighlight that, while government’s role is to facilitate the right conversations, more important is the role of the businesses and relevant trade bodies, as they are the ones that engage in actual trading activities. To this end, the chambers of commerce, trade associations need to strategically come together to effectively harness the benefits of the CFTA.
As the saying goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth” so I wanted to know Simeon’s views on the of the number of countries signed up to the Agreementand the implicationfor its effective and successful implementation. In his opinion, while indeed the concern is valid, the very nature of trade and open borders ensures that even if the Agreement does not go as planned, it will remain a laudable project with inherent benefits – for Simeon, “Buyers will always go seeking for Sellers”.
As an advocate for the development of humanity, particularly those that are disadvantaged – I’m keenly looking forward to the successful implementation of the AfCFTA, as it promises a better quality of life and economic empowerment for the less privileged.Moreso, following the impact of the pandemic on businesses and livelihoods, this will perhaps mark the beginning of a sustainable transformation on the continent.
My conversation with Simeon was insightful and informative but definitely not exhaustive – given the various elements of the subject matter. However, please find the Social Conscience Podcast series on www.africabusinessradio.com or follow the link – https://www.spreaker.com/show/social-conscience to listen to the full conversation.
Yours conscientiously,
Chinasa Ken-Ugwuh (‘Nasa)
