Publisher's Message
FINANCING AFRICA's SMEs
Ricky Muloweni Publisher's Message “Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation... The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy which holds together the people living in a territory. It is on this basis that the new Africans recognize themselves as potentially one nation, whose dominion is the entire African continent.” ― Kwame Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite
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September-October 2020
IT IS GRATIFYING TO finally have the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) activated and ready to go. Africa Business Association (ABA) is calling upon the African Union (AU) to put together an enterprise financing program working through the Regional Economic Communities and reaching down to the local entrepreneur in the village. The AU needs to deliberately address its people and emphasize that the time to get involved in building the continent is now. All hands are needed on deck. The AU needs to take deliberate steps to set in motion Skills Development Programs for entrepreneurship and provide more access to credit, capital and mentoring. We have gone through the process of understanding the main objectives of the AfCFTA; “to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Customs Union”, okay, but what does this mean to the kiosk owner on the streets of Kigali or Lusaka? Clearly if the kiosk owner is selling Jasmine rice from Vietnam or Hershey’s chocolates then their part of the negotiation in this Free Trade was conducted by the East or West, for them to have these DAWN
www.africabusinessassociation.org