Kosi Yankey-Aryeh, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, is urging African politicians and private sector actors to support regulations that support women-owned companies on the continent.
She believes that formalizing women-led enterprises and entrepreneurship is critical to the progress of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, or AfCFTA.
She called for the rapid completion of the Protocol on Women in Trade to promote greater trade prospects for women under the AfCFTA, speaking at a capacity-building workshop for women traders in the ECOWAS sub-region.
“We assume that the AfCFTA would not come unless it is fully and successfully enforced, in order to reap the full gain from it. As a result, the government has organized a series of public sensitization workshops throughout the country to inform the private sector about the application of the AfCFTA protocols and the operational requirements for successful business training.”
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“The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a significant instrument for transforming the African economy, and this transition will be facilitated if women and gender problems are prioritized in national AfCFTA policy documents for implementation. We just want to be sure that no one gets left behind. I’d like to use this moment to urge the business sector and its growth agencies to help our woman entrepreneurs’ tremendous efforts. We need to help them achieve their maximum AfCFTA potential by enacting laws and regulations,” she added.
The African Continental Free Trade Area, which went into effect on January 1, 2021, brings together 1.2 billion inhabitants and $2.5 trillion in total GDP.
Africa’s production production is projected to increase to $1 trillion as a result of the deal, generating 14 million workers by 2025.
The continent-wide pact, as a game-changer, is unquestionably crucial to Africa’s economic transition. Non-tariff barriers, on the other hand, have hampered the seamless inclusion of women in trade and the opportunity for balanced development.
According to a 2017 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, women account for 70% of informal traders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) area. In West and Central Africa, informal cross-border trade by women accounts for more than 60% of total trade and accounts for 40 to 60% of the GDP of the countries concerned.
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
