By: Nana Appiah
Acquaye
The African Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has called for stronger support systems to help
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) move beyond training and successfully
participate in intra-African trade.
Cynthia E.
Gnassingbe-Essonam, Director of Private Sector Engagement and Communications at
the AfCFTA Secretariat, made the call at the opening of the AfCFTA SME Booster
Initiative – Southern Africa Regional Cohort in Gaborone, Botswana.
She said training programmes
alone were insufficient to ensure that businesses become successful exporters,
stressing the need to provide SMEs with continued access to buyers, market
intelligence, finance, logistics providers and commercial partners.
According to her, the
objective should be to build a pipeline of export-ready African businesses
while strengthening Business Support Organisations that can help enterprises
navigate and take advantage of opportunities created by the continental free
trade agreement.
“Training alone is not
enough,” Ms. Gnassingbe-Essonam said, noting that SMEs require sustained
support beyond the workshop environment to convert knowledge into commercial
opportunities.
She said the implementation
of the AfCFTA must ultimately be assessed by tangible outcomes, including
businesses trading across borders, partnerships being established and actual
transactions taking place.
The SME Booster Initiative
is therefore expected to strengthen the capacity of participating businesses
and support organisations while improving their ability to connect with markets
and commercial opportunities across Africa.
The Southern Africa regional
cohort is being implemented with support from the European Commission, Better
Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Development Programme and the International
Trade Centre.
