New Platform seeks to connect African SMEs
By: Rading Biko
Posted on Monday, May 9, 2022
Over 25,000 Small and Medium Enterprises in Africa are set to benefit from a newly launched commerce trading platform aimed at promoting intra-Africa trade.
Initially, Ancestral House Eastern Africa online trading platform, which was launched today, will connect East and West Africa traders at a go.
According to the Chairman of Ancestral Africa, Mr Ose Imoukhuede, Ancestral Africa has been enabled to strengthen stronger integration and greater intra-Africa trade.
“Over time, multidimensional dislocations have stymied the emergence of an integral and prosperous African collective. Experiences from the pandemic have shown the emergence of the new world; limited restrictions in movement of persons and goods modelled by the changes in consumer,” said Imoukhuede.
“The biggest challenge most SMEs in the continent face, is that they cannot easily export goods within the continent, but they can easily export and import goods from other continents despite the intra Africa trade potential being over US$ 1 billion annually,” he added.
This new platform will offer services such as business matchmaking, market research, logistics, consumer trends and behaviours.
“We are connecting producers and consumers of goods and services across Africa through technology-driven go-to-market information and expertise. The promise of Africa has throughout our history hovered above us almost like an ideal, something wished for but unattainable, whereas the African land space is variously blessed in resources and abundant talent to fulfil this promise,” said Imoukhede.
Shreyas Patel, the Director, on his statement, noted that the idea of establishing a trade house structure recognizes the dislocations in Africa which are mainly caused by lack of market information, cultural indifferences, and other trade barriers.
According to Ancestral House Eastern Africa, some of the challenges facing the SME sector in Africa include lack of capital, market access, skills training, as well as administrative barriers.
“There are a number of challenges facing the SMEs sector in the continent ranging from lack of market information, inexperienced exporters/importers, poor logistics infrastructure, inefficient cross-border payment systems/infrastructure, cultural differences, gaps, trust deficit and varied Competitive landscape. We want to be the one-stop solution for all these problems and enable them scale up their businesses.”
The launch comes in the wake of a vibrant African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) that covers a market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.5 trillion, across all 55 member states of the African Union.
SMEs account for around 80 per cent of the region’s businesses and mostly usually struggle to penetrate more advanced overseas markets. However, with AFCFTA, the SMEs are well-positioned to tap into regional export destinations and can use regional markets as stepping stones for expanding into overseas markets at a later point.
The African Continental Free Trade Area offers employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth, but policymakers and development organizations must take steps to ensure the agreement reaches its full potential.
Africa’s large and fast-growing youth population is considered one of its greatest assets, with a central role to play in shaping the development of the continent. Yet, young Africans face numerous challenges that affect their livelihoods and make it difficult for them to thrive.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) has what it takes to tackle these challenges by creating more jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for young men and women.
A new International Trade Centre (ITC) report, Opportunities for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship: Understanding the African Continental Free Trade Area, explores how youth stand to benefit from the creation of a single market and promotion of key sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture and services.
Africa’s large and fast-growing youth population is considered one of its greatest assets, with a central role to play in shaping the development of the continent.
