According to a study conducted by Standard Bank, less than 50% of polled entrepreneurs in several African countries knew about the AfCFTA. Why is such a renowned initiative left unknown to some businesses? Your AfroVerdict host sits down with trade and economy experts to dig deeper into this issue.
There are various factors that could have had an impact on the low number of entrepreneurs aware of the initiative. For example, entrepreneurs "don’t see the usefulness" of the AfCFTA, according to Professor Bamidele Adekunle, an author, researcher, and essayist affiliated with the University of Guelph and Toronto Metropolitan University.
"If they understand the usefulness, they'll be the first set of people to even have access to [information], because based on the attributes of entrepreneurs they see information so that they can arbitrage. So if they cannot see it, I think something is wrong with the structure and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area," Prof. Adekunle states.
On the other hand, local business representatives are making an effort to promote the AfCFTA.
"I represent black business organizations in the country and most, if not all, our members in companies and associations are aware of the benefits of the ACFTA," says Elias Monage, President of the Black Business Council in South Africa.
Mr Monage explains that he has been active in “read[ing] workshops and seminars on the benefits of AfCFTA”.
To make sure that all concerned parties are aware of the benefits of the AfCFTA, countries “must also take an ownership of AfCFTA”, according to George Sebulela, founder of the South African United Business Council.
"It is not a program to be driven by one particular country. It is not the program that should be driven by the Secretariat alone. It is a program for Africans and African countries and African companies to come to the fore. The implementation must be led by business to become the key implementer of the program," Mr Sebulela explains.
He also believes that currency used in trade between countries should be determined by demand, instead of using a single currency.
"If we are going to be the world that is going to have a multi-currency and the consumers can choose on the one they want to utilize, that makes life much easier, even competition much better, as opposed to being coerced to utilize a certain currency vis a vis the others," Mr Sebulela says.
To hear what else the experts had to say, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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