The AfCFTA will open a bigger market for businesses in Africa. We have an opportunity for industries to manufacture products that can be exported within regions, enabling us to earn foreign exchange. It will help us improve trade practices and remain competitive.

There are various opportunities that can put Africa on a very different path. For me the greatest opportunity right now is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that came into effect a few months ago. Africa has the potential to be one of the biggest markets in the world. But we need to trade amongst ourselves as Africans.

The AfCFTA is doable. But we first have to address the bottlenecks and barriers to trade to promote trade on the African continent.

We need a paradigm shift from a male-dominated economic mantra to an inclusive and transformational nation- building approach that can be enshrined in our people-driven constitution.

Africa needs visionary and transformative that can always incorporate views of women and provide them with a conducive environment for their participation in developing the region.

Africa’s socio-economic transformation will only be realized once we aggressively address gender-specific challenges, prioritize gender equality and women’s participation, and firmly entrench women in leadership positions at all levels in society.

I would rather talk about the opportunities in Africa. I want to create a positive narrative of Africa. However, we know that we still face challenges of conflicts, disease, poverty and hunger. That is why we must implement the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063, the African Union’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa.

Yet sustainable economic and social development can only be achieved with the full participation and leadership of women on the African continent. In order to overturn centuries of underdevelopment, women need to position themselves at the centre of development processes.

The good news is that the path to such a future is already being forged. Away from the screens of the mainstream media, the crude ‘bigger is better’ narrative that has dominated economic thinking for centuries is being challenged by a much gentler, more ‘feminine’, inclusive perspective that places human and ecological well-being front and center...

Africa can focus on trading in agriculture to transform the continent.

First of all, I think Africa is trying to make those strides that are necessary to achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality). But the approach to development in Africa has always been ad hoc, and I think we have been pitting some of our greatest challenges against each other in terms of making choices. For example, we will say, Well we have to make a choice between a woman and health. Or a woman and an education budget. And I think this is where we have got it wrong. The fact is that women are an integral part of any investment, be it in health, in education, in agriculture, etc. Africa needs to recognize that our human resources are the biggest asset base that we have, and to ignore investing in 50% of it, is just foolhardy and affects results, as well as the rights that women have in their lives.

First of all, I think Africa is trying to make those strides that are necessary to achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality). But the approach to development in Africa has always been ad hoc, and I think we have been pitting some of our greatest challenges against each other in terms of making choices. For example, we will say, Well we have to make a choice between a woman and health. Or a woman and an education budget. And I think this is where we have got it wrong. The fact is that women are an integral part of any investment, be it in health, in education, in agriculture, etc. Africa needs to recognise that our human resources are the biggest asset base that we have, and to ignore investing in 50% of it, is just foolhardy and affects results, as well as the rights that women have in their lives.

They produce the products and sometimes they don’t even know where to sell it. We have the African Continental Free Trade Area. Can we support them to leverage it?

“May I emphasize that if nurtured with friendly regulatory framework and policies, the informal sector could boast economic growth and create the employment we critically desire. This will in the ultimate improve women’s participation in industrialization within the African Continent."