International Women’s Day 2023

Dear AfYEF Women and Colleagues,

Many people across the world now have access to the internet and a wide variety of information on products, people, and places through their smartphones and other smart devices. This has facilitated access to markets for small businesses across countries and different sectors resulting in the creation of wealth for Individuals, Businesses, and Nations at all levels.

In support of the official theme for the 2023 celebrations, at AfYEF Women, we have identified our Theme for the year as “Taking Businesses to New Heights; Harnessing the Digital Space”. This theme focuses on empowering more women-owned Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through technological innovation to boost our businesses.

Exploring technological innovations has positively impacted markets through the high rise of electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms across various industries and jurisdictions. Although there are some challenges creating barriers to women’s involvement in digital and technological innovations, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

To learn more about how we can adequately make use of this opportunity, we have put together a team of seasoned entrepreneurs to share their entrepreneurial journey and the impact of technology on their businesses. This webinar will take place on Saturday, *11th March* 2023 from *10:00 AM* to *noon* GMT.

See you there!!!

AfYEF Women; Mobilizing Women for the AfCFTA!

Francisca E. Agbagba

Director of Gender, AfYEF

AfYEF Women Invitation

AfYEF Women invites you to celebrate our achievements as Women in recognition of International Women’s day, 2023. We will be hosting special speakers that will share stories of their entrepreneurial journey to inspire you to do more. 

THEME : Taking Business To The New Heights, Harnessing the Digital Space

 ⏰ TIME : 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM GMT 

VENUE: GOOGLE MEET LINK BELOW To join a meeting on Google Meet, click this link: https://meet.google.com/cnd-qmyj-idx Or open Meet and enter this code: cnd-my-idx

 
 

AfCFTA: First conference for women, youth in trade opens Monday

Secretary General of the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, will be holding a historic conference in Tanzania to demonstrate commitment to inclusion of women and youth in AfCFTA implementation.
Gracing this all-important event are Samia Suluhu Hasan, president of Tanzania, Vice-President of Liberia- Jewel Taylor, President and Chairman of Afreximbank- Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, President of African Development Bank-Dr. Adesina Akinwumi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union- Monique Nsanabaganwa, alongside other dignitaries from different sectors. The conference which takes place from September 12-14 2022, in Dar es Salaam at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center is under the theme “Women and Youth: The Engine of AfCFTA Trade in Africa.” It will provide a platform for women and youth in trade, policymakers, development partners, financiers, and other key stakeholders on the continent to share in-depth perspectives on women and youth in trade.

The overall objective is to develop policy proposals for the draft Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade.
The Conference is also expected to design concrete solutions that enhance the ability of women and youth to take advantage of opportunities offered by the AfCFTA.
Thematic areas for the conference are leadership in trade, financial inclusion, creative industries, digital solutions to trade, informal cross border trade and industrialization and creation of linkages.
Government Officials from Ministries responsible for trade, gender, and youth in Africa, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AfCFTA Strategic Partners, and multilateral institutions among others are expected to participate in the event from different African countries.
The conference is considered a great step for Africa with over 400 million youth population which is critical for the development of trade.

The World Bank has said, “AfCFTA agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world.
“The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) valued at $3.4 trillion.
It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, but achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.”
The World Bank also predicts that Africa’s working-age population should grow by 450 million people by 2035.

However, the continent’s economies are set to produce only 100 million new jobs.

REPORT OF THE 2022, ACCELERATE AFRICA BOOTCAMP

On the 5th and 6th July 2022, a training camp organized by the pan-African economic awakening structure, ACCELARATE AFRICA, took place at the DJEUGA PALACE hotel in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on the theme: “Opportunities in the AfCFTA, Investment & Industrialization in Africa, Economic & Digital Transformation, Business Management & Scaling, Developing new continental business strategies amongst others.”

Several themes were addressed

  • Training module 1/ workshop, Opportunities in the AfCFTA;
  • Training module 2/workshop, Economic & Digital Transformation;
  • Training module 3/ workshop, Investment & Industrialization in Africa;
  • Identification & selection of innovative businesses;
  • Training module 4 /workshop, Business Management & Scaling;
  • Training module 5/ workshop: Developing new continental business strategies, Evaluation of businesses.

We were powerfully equipped and edified in relation to the great challenges of our continent. We came out motivated and determined to play our part in this revolutionary continental project.

Several members of AfYEF in Cameroon participated in this Bootcamp and received their certificate in the presence of the Minister of Small and Medium – sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts.

General photo of the participants of the Cameroon 2022 Bootcamp
Coffee break on the first day of the Bootcamp
Presentation of the certificate of participation to the youngest participant of the Bootcamp, member of AfYEF

In sum, we thank AfYEF and all its officials for the opportunity given to us to participate in this Bootcamp which enabled us to develop skills that will help us to develop and unleash our potentials. It has prepared us for investment and equipped us for an opening towards the industrialization of our continent and job creation.

Shaping Africa’s Growth

Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO of the African Leadership Group, believes you cannot teach leadership, but it can be learnt, and you can create an environment that allows leaders to rise.

“Let me explain what I mean by that,” says Fred when he joined CDC for an Insight event on shaping the future of Africa. “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t force the horse to drink.”

As Africa’s population is the youngest on earth and the fastest growing, Fred is focused on how you create a generation of African leaders to create jobs and continue economic growth on the continent. His work is critical. Research recently published by the Lancet predicts that in the year 2100, five of the 10 most populous countries on earth will be in Africa, and the continent will make up 40% of the world’s population. While it presents an opportunity, job creation in Africa is not keeping pace with this rapid population growth, resulting in a ‘ticking time bomb’.

Fred says entrepreneurs must be at the heart of job creation strategies on the continent. On average, he says, one young entrepreneur they develop creates 16 jobs and what’s more, young business owners hire their peers – employing more young people in their business.

But these future leaders do not act in isolation. Chairing the event, Colin Buckley, CDC’s Head of External Affairs, asked Fred for his thoughts on how the move to a more digital economy will impact this generation of leaders.

“This pandemic has opened up markets for Africa’s youth to work in. Before, if you wanted to go and work somewhere else, you had to go through all kinds of immigration challenges. Now you can sit as an engineer in Tanzania and work for Siemens in Germany. That’s a huge opportunity for African talent enabled by technology. We can export our talent, but without the brain drain.”

Likewise, Fred sees technology as one of the greatest forces for rapid change. Africa, he says, has the potential to develop faster than regions have in the past, using technology to quicken the pace of development. “In Africa we didn’t have to replicate landlines, which would have taken decades and cost trillions of dollars. When the mobile phone was invented, we leapfrogged straight to mobile and within 20 years, 800 million people had access to telephones.”

And this is how CDC views development too, said Managing Director and Head of Africa, Tenbite Ermias, who joined the discussion. CDC views technology as an enabler of jobs and development but Tenbite agrees with Fred that Africa must move faster than developed continents to catch-up.

“If we are just aspiring for 4G network then you know when everyone else is on 7G we’ll be at 5G, so we need to keep pushing,” said Tenbite.

But Fred points out that we must be careful not to “over glorify” technology. It is an enabler of other industries. It is no longer only the domain of Silicon Valley – it is critical for every sector and allows you to solve problems more efficiently and at a lower cost, such as access to services.

And so, to the role for impact investors and development finance institutions such as CDC. What should they do to support Africa’s young leaders and job creators?

First, Fred says, they should use their influence as an outsider to help governments create policies to build entrepreneur-friendly environments which support business growth. Second, they should invest in long term infrastructure to contribute to the enabling environment.

Third, use of capital. Fred suggests that CDC should be prepared to take risk to back the start-ups and entrepreneurs which will be the future of Africa.

“Africa is a greenfield continent – there’s so many things that need to be and to be built from scratch, says Fred.

“And so, finding that venture that’s been going for 30 years and 50 years and giving it a bit of private equity and some financial engineering, it’s really limiting the potential of what CDC could do. So how do you think about getting early stage capital? Do you create a subsidiary venture capital fund of sorts where you’re taking more risk and invest in young entrepreneurs who are starting things from scratch?”

“I challenge you as CDC to really put some of that capital to risk, because the bang for the buck in Africa is much greater than the rest of the world.”

And while Tenbite agrees, he says CDC takes a “toolkit” approach on the continent. He explains that CDC invests into “big ticket” transformational deals, but also provides funding to financial institutions which get credit to where it is needed the most. Increasingly CDC is investing in venture capital, putting money into early-stage businesses, backing young entrepreneurs and their expertise.

“But is the job done and have we pushed every button that could be pushed? No, and I take the challenge from Fred that we should also be thinking about tomorrow’s job creators and the younger entrepreneurs who are on the market. So, challenge accepted and we’ll certainly keep working on

Source: www.cdcgroup.com

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN STUDENT (GHANA CHAPTER)Inauguration of Newly Elected Executives

On the (18/07/2021), as part of the official duties in mobilising members of/for the Federation, the president honored the invitation of the National Association of Nigerian Students to the inauguration of their newly elected executives for 2021/2022 Administration.
At the event, Madam Esther, the representative of the Nigeria High commissioner stressed on the need for peaceful coexistence among the students of both countries. She also entreated participants to learn from and share with each other since Nigerians and Ghanaians are noted for their brotherly relationship.
At the event, Mr. Siita Sofo Hissan, the president of AfYEF used his limited allotted time to talk about Nigeria, Ghana and Africa on the need for young people to engage in Entrepreneurship. He also stressed on the need to forge healthy relationships with cohorts wherever we are since that would be needed in future.

AfCFTA Young Entrepreneurs Federation Launched

African Youth Entrepreneurship groups have launched the AfCFTA Young Entrepreneurs Federation (AfYEF) to mobilize the youth to take advantage of the single continental market.

The federation is a league of youth entrepreneurship organizations from across the African continent that serves as a representative voice for young entrepreneurs on AfCFTA.


It among other things seeks to train and build capacity of youth entrepreneurs, advocate for them when the need arises and further facilitate trade.

Launch

At the launch of the Federation in Accra yesterday, the President of the AfYEF, Mr Sita Sofo Hissan, said the establishment of the AfYEF sought to engage, connect and unite young entrepreneurs in Africa to trade among themselves.

“AfCFTA seems to be what we the youth of Africa need. According to International Monetary Fund reports, more than 30 million people will be taken out of abject poverty in 14 years when AfCFTA is well implemented,” he said.

In attendance at the launch were representatives from the Nigeria High Commission, European Union to AU, Denmark Embassy, Ethiopia Embassy, Guinea Embassy, Namibia Embassy, GIZ, Star Ghana Foundation, Green Economic Ghana, SNV, Trade Associations and youth groups.

The Federation alongside the launch, unveiled the it’s offices to be used as the coordinating point of activities on the Continent.

Registration

In order to encourage and sustain the intra-African trade, the Secretary General of the AfYEF, Mr Sherif Ghali said, there would be a membership mobilization drive across the African continent to engage more youth organizations.

He, therefore, encouraged all young entrepreneurs in the continent to join the federation regardless of the size of their businesses.

Sustainable

For her part, a minister at the Nigeria High Commission, Mrs Esther Adebola Arewa, acknowledged that the success of the AfCFTA was critical to the successful integration of regions on the African continent.

She, therefore, advised the youth not to take for granted the AfCFTA Young Entrepreneurs Federation platform, saying “please take advantage of those opportunities that abound”.

Meanwhile, the Country Representative of the GIZ, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa said that was the time for the African youth to be creative and innovative across board.

“You can evaluate ideas, align or realign, and develop concepts and execute business plans that can be sustainable in all seasons,” she said.

She further required of the youth to endeavor to create opportunities that put Africa’s rising economy on the path of prosperity.

“The AfCFTA offers Africa a unique opportunity to usher in a new era of development. This is the time for entrepreneurs, especially the young ones to add value to their businesses by being innovative and remain competitive,” Ms Barbosa added.

Young African entrepreneurs to maximize benefits from AfCFTA

The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is in session with some inroads made towards maximizing the continent’s 3.5 trillion market value.

Even as member states partake in this single market, young entrepreneurs and small scale industries seem left out of the picture as they have no muscle and mileage to compete with well-established industries.

It is for this reason that a network of young entrepreneurs from across the African continent that serves as a representative voice for young entrepreneurs on AfCFTA has been formed by the Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and other development partners.

President of the AfCFTA Young Entrepreneurs Federation (AfYEF), Siita Sofo Hissan told Joy Business that “young entrepreneurs are the underdogs when it comes to maximizing AfCFTA because they do not have the needed resources – money, know-how and capabilities – to push and succeed. So we have come together under AFYEF to galvanize young African entrepreneurs for this 3.5 trillion dollars single market.”

Meanwhile, Siita Sofo Hissan has called for support from authorities in member states to leverage AfCFTA.

Also, the Secretary-General of AFYEF, Sherif Ghali, has hinted that cross-sectional information sharing with the AfCFTA will provide a unified front for these young entrepreneurs.

“We believe that young entrepreneurs have the potential to make huge contributions to the economic, social and political development of Africa and as such we commit to strengthen, advocate and support the dreams of young entrepreneurs in Africa”. 

“We commit to engage stakeholders and facilitate the exchange of ideas in a bit to remove barriers to enterprise development for young people as AfCFTA envisaged,” he stated.

“AfYEF is a network of young entrepreneurs from across the African continent that serves as a representative voice for young entrepreneurs on AfCFTA.

As an apex body, AfYEF was formed with the primary objective of mobilizing and empowering African young entrepreneurs to actively participate and benefit from the AfCFTA agreement.

AfYEF aims to drive trade, advocate for policy reforms, provide business support services with needed information on funding source to facilitate access to credit and improve the business eco-system for the development of African youth entrepreneurs with a special focus on AfCFTA.”

African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Project description

Title: Support to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Member States of the African Union
Lead executing agency: African Union Commission (AUC)
Overall term: 2020 to 2023

new_AfCFTA-logo

Context

Although growth in Africa is forecasted at an average of 3.6 per cent for 2019–20, with the world’s fastest growing economies being on the continent, there is still much to be done. Africa is still heavily reliant on commodity and agricultural exports while importing capital goods or food products predominantly from outside the continent. With a global trade share of less than 3 per cent, export diversification has yet to be achieved, as many African countries still rely on rents from extractive exports, whilst falling behind on industrialisation efforts. 
Against this backdrop, intra-African trade remains below its potential, accounting for about 17 per cent of the total African trade volume in 2017. In contrast, North American intracontinental trade accounts for 51 per cent of exports, 49 per cent in Asia, and 22 per cent in Latin America, while among West¬ern European countries this number reaches 69 per cent. Although some Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have achieved improvements in trade integration through tariff reductions, the African market remains fragmented. Non-tariff barriers such as uncoordinated bureaucratic procedures, long waiting times at the border or lengthy and cumbersome export requirements raise trade costs on the continent. As a result, Africa has integrated with the rest of the world faster than with itself.

With the Treaty of Abuja in 1991, the Member States of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) agreed on a road map for the creation of a common African market. To accelerate the implementation of the Treaty and strengthen regional integration, the African Union (AU) Trade Ministers agreed to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA has since been a flagship programme of the AU and AfCFTA negotiations were launched in June 2015.

Out of 55 Member States of the AU, 44 signed the Agreement in March 2018 at the AU Extraordinary Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Phase I of negotiations covers trade in goods, trade in services and dispute settlement. Phase II is to cover investment, competition policy and intellectual property rights. Outstanding issues of Phase I such as tariff schedules, rules of origin and specifics on trade in services are yet to be completed. At the same time, the Kigali summit kicked off the ratification process of the AfCFTA, with an increasing number of AU Member States ratifying the Agreement in their national parliaments. The AU comes into force with the 22nd ratification deposited at the AU.

Objective

The AU is coordinating the ongoing free trade negotiations and the transition to implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

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Approach

The AU Commission (AUC), specifically AUC´s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is in charge of coordinating in BIAT and AfCFTA related activities. The project advises the AUC Trade Commissioner on strategic policy and advocacy issues by seconding a regional trade policy advisor to DTI´s structures. It also supports the AfCFTA Negotiation Unit by seconding a customs cooperation and trade facilitation expert for the preparation of the negotiations. Outstanding negotiation issues of Phase I for trade in goods and trade in services are being supported by a range of mechanisms, e.g. by providing tailor made technical consultancy expertise, by organising trainings, seminars and workshops or by selectively rendering financial support. 

In addition, GIZ is cooperating with a number of institutional partners on specific AfCFTA related topics. The cooperation with ITC’s SheTrades Initiative aims to embed a gender sensitive approach into the negotiating process. Joint efforts with the United Nations Economic Comission for Africa (UNECA) and the Trade Law Centre (TRALAC) are aimed at raising awareness and disseminating information. Furthermore, a close cooperation with the RECs East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is envisaged to ensure the continental and the regional levels are linked. 

The programme is targeting AfCFTA related topics such as stakeholder involvement, industrialisation, Special Economic Zones, Green Econ¬omy or eCommerce. In a rapidly changing Africa, a trade agreement that reflects current socioeconomic realities is needed to provide a solid foundation for economic integration across the continent.

Results

The African Continental Free Trade Framework agreement has been signed by 52 African Member States and is operationalised with the necessary 22 ratifications after only three years of free trade negotiations. This stands for a huge diplomatic and political success given the short timeline, the ambitious liberalisation goals set and the heterogeneity and large number of 55 Member States negotiating the Free Trade Area. The course is now set to actively change, reform and agree on new framework conditions, regulations and agreements likely to foster and boost Intra-African trade, investment and employment in the intermediate term. Accompanying and seconding policy documents such as the African Union Trade Facilitation Strategy or the AU Services Sector Development Programme have been developed to set continental-wide guiding standards for further rolling out strategies translating them on to regional and national levels in terms of actual implementation.

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