Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, October 17, 2024 – The East African Business Council (EABC), in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) successfully rolled out a training boot camp to equip youth with the essential skills and knowledge needed to take advantage of export opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This boot camp funded by the European Union, was organised as part of the EU-East African Community Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP) II.
The three-day training boot camp, titled “Export Readiness for Youth-Led SMEs under the AfCFTA,” convened trainers from East African business support organizations to enhance their capacity to support young entrepreneurs in trading across borders under AfCFTA. The training covered various key topics such as navigating the AfCFTA protocols, understanding export procedures, leveraging digital platforms for exports, and utilizing trade information resources.
ITC estimates that if all African countries fully liberalise tariffs, there is an untapped intra-African export potential of US$22 billion waiting to be tapped by Africa’s business community. However, many African businesses remain unaware of its opportunities; An ITC survey showed that over 50 percent of MSMEs were unaware of the AfCFTA Agreement, let alone empowered to take advantage of it. To support the AfCFTA, ITC launched the “One Trade Africa Initiative” to empower African MSMEs, women, and youth entrepreneurs to fully capitalize on the agreement, in partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat.
“This training addresses this gap by enhancing the capacity of BSOs to equip African youth-led SMEs with the necessary tools to seize the benefits of intra-African trade.” said Richard Adu-Gyamfi, ITC in his remarks.
Mr. Richard Adu-Gyamfi, ITC, noted, “Africa’s young entrepreneurs are the backbone of economies and hold the key to unlocking the potential of AfCFTA. By equipping them with the right tools, we can create a new era of cross-border trade that drives sustainable economic growth and integration.”
Mr. Frank Dafa, Trade in Good Manager, representing the EABC Executive Director, said, “Due to infrastructure challenges, Africa has a low level of intra-trade which sits at just 18% of total goods traded in the region.” He added that according to the African Union, the continent is home to more than 400 million youth and, thus, prime for investment and social development. Mr. Dafa noted that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-Africa trade by 52.3% by eliminating import duties and to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced”. Noting the importance of the training, he informed that a recent ITC survey on Small and Medium-sized African enterprises found that between 60 and 70% reported the availability of trade-related training and information as being either low or very low.
The training seeks to expose young business leaders to:
- AfCFTA Protocols: Understanding the fundamentals of AfCFTA, its trade facilitation, tariffs, and rules of origin. Currently, 48 out of 54 countries have signed the agreement with 89% of the signatories making ratifications of the agreement.
- Export Readiness: Assessing business readiness to export and identifying target markets and customers. Under the component, enterprises will be able to assess their capacity to comply with requirements across countries and with international standards.
- Market Access Tools: Navigating AfCFTA trade portals and leveraging digital tools for successful exporting. The freely available online tools are designed to enable African enterprises to develop their export skills to take advantage of the AfCFTA market.
- Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania have commenced trading under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI). Ms. Happiness Nyiti from AJA Ltd shared her success story of exporting more than 20 tonnes of sisal fibres to Ghana under the AfCFTA trade.
Practical exercises and live demonstrations gave participants hands-on experience in using digital tools, such as the African Trade Observatory and other ITC platforms, to access market information and navigate export documentation and compliance procedures.
Mr. Frank Dafa, Manager for Trade in Goods at EABC, stated, “This training aligns perfectly with EABC’s mission to promote trade across the EAC region. By empowering young entrepreneurs to leverage the AfCFTA, we are driving economic integration and supporting the next generation of business leaders.”
The program is part of a broader initiative to prepare Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs for success in regional and global markets.
