Analysts are of the view that future millionaires and billionaires from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) subregion will emerge from among owners of Small and Medium Entreprise (SMEs).
According to them, West Africa’s SMEs, leveraging the recently unveiled African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), will hit the ground running to become the next generation of mega-companies and achieve explosive, unprecedented economic growth.
AfCFTA, which has now entered its operational phase with a permanent secretariat in Accra, Ghana, is said to provide the greatest opportunity and potential for SMEs to thrive and transform into mega firms and employers of labour.
Under the AfCFTA agreement, member states are expected to eliminate tariffs on most traded goods and services over a period of 5, 10, or 13 years, depending on an individual country level of development or the nature of the products.
AfCFTA is expected to create an enabling environment for a single, liberalised ECOWAS bloc market; reduce barriers to capital and labour to facilitate investment; develop regional infrastructure; and establish a continental customs union, which altogether constitute a fertile ground for small businesses to blossom.
A brainchild of the African Union (AU), AfCFA is the world’s largest free-trade area by number of member states, after the World Trade Organisation, and the largest in population and geographic size, spanning 1.3 billion people across Africa – the world’s second largest continent.
AfCFTA is aimed at increasing Africa’s, and indeed West Africa’s, socioeconomic development, reducing poverty, bolstering trade and economic development and making the continent more competitive in the global market.
ECOWAS has for nearly 50 years, tackled the challenges of subregional economic growth and integration by focusing on its topmost priority while embarking on a plethora of bold initiatives, deliberately tailored to align with the bloc’s vision of a citizen-centric community.
Such strategic initiatives have been driven by ECOWAS’ objectives of deepening regional integration and promoting inclusive and sustainable development through the active participation of small businesses in the private sector in line with the mandate of its founding fathers.
It was against this backdrop, therefore, that the ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with the umbrella body of SMEs, the ECOWAS Small Business Coalition (ESBC), and Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Trade and Investment, organised an ESBC 2024 West Africa SMEs Exhibition scheduled to hold in Abidjan, the Ivorian capital, from Nov. 21 to 23.
The event is considered the launchpad for SMEs’ cross-border trade, collaboration and innovation across West Africa, which will culminate in the discovery of the secrets and power of small business growth and connections, among others.
It is designed to empower SMEs across the subregion by providing unmatched business-to-business connections by matching SMEs with potential investors and donors; pitching startup businesses with potential investors; and creating access to strategic collaborations that will ensure startup and drive regional economic growth.
Dr. Tony Elumelu, ECOWAS Director, Private Sector, explained that ESBC embodies ECOWAS’ mission to create a unified economic space across West Africa, and the vision for regional integration by empowering SMEs, that are crucial to economic stability and job creation.
He said the trade expo will feature SMEs showcasing eco-friendly products, from recyclable packaging to renewable energy solutions, among many others, thereby encouraging sustainable business practices across regional markets.
Elumelu stressed that ESBC also encouraged the adoption of digital tools and innovative practices toward ensuring that SMEs remained competitive in a rapidly evolving global economy.
“The coalition is committed to empowering small businesses, fostering regional integration, and driving sustainable economic growth in West Africa.
“Together, we are shaping a brighter future for entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and strengthening the economic foundation of the ECOWAS region.
“ESBC also organises financing forums that connect SMEs with green investors, supporting projects that emphasise environmental responsibility and sustainability, a key attraction for eco-minded investors,” he said.
Corroborating Elumelu’s view, Mr Eke Ubiji, Executive Secretary, National Association of Small and Medium Entreprises (NASME), sees such exhibitions as part of a larger strategy to take advantage of AFCFTA, diversify markets, and promote trade within the African continent.
Speaking at an event recently, he noted that globally, SMEs are the engine of economic development, hence the level of importance accorded MSMEs in the developed world, which according to him, is far from what obtains in Africa.
“Globally, SMEs are the engine of economic development, hence the level of importance attached to SMEs in the developed world.
“This is far from what obtains in Africa, hence, the need for the SMEs Summit and Exhibitions,” he said.
Dr. Abdulrashid Yerima, NASME President, while being upbeat about the exhibition and its potential for the growth of West Africa’s small businesses, noted that lack of adequate digital infrastructure is responsible for the slow growth of SMEs.
Speaking at a Vanguard Economic Forum Series recently, Yerima said that poor internet facility is impeding the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, adding that major entrepreneurs in rural areas are unable to cope with the fast-paced growth of their counterparts in other climes due poor internet connectivity.
He listed other inhibiting factors to SME’s successes to include inadequate capacity building, poor access to finance, infrastructural deficit, poor access to market, and thr lack of capacity to adhere to expected quality and standard.
“Poor network is a major issue affecting the acceptability and growth of MSMEs in Nigeria. Entrepreneurs in rural areas are facing communication challenge and digital knowledge owing to pore digital infrastructure in those areas.
“The cost of smart phone has become unaffordable to most MSME entrepreneurs, hence lack of digital knowledge to help propagate the growth of MSMEs in the country.
“Knowledge of digital operations is key but it’s quite unfortunate that most people don’t have digital knowledge and that is affecting the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria,” he said.
Ms Cesaltina Tavares, Communications Officer, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) Lomé, Togo, said the sky was the limit for the growth of small businesses in West Africa, especially at the dawn of AfCFTA.
Tavares explained that EBID was prepared to give tremendous financial support to the SMEs to enable them achieve their dreams of becoming West Africa’s future millionaires and billionaires and boost the ECOWAS private sector.
“We are ready to support them with all our financial power, so that we can improve the ECOWAS private sector. I believe that this is just the way forward,” she said.
Ms Chinenye Akandu, Partnerships Executive, Tony Elumelu Foundation, said the foundation had doled out a whooping 100 million dollars to identify, train, mentor and fund about 10,000 young African entrepreneurs over the past 10 years because of their great potentials.
She said that the collaboration between ECOWAS and other organisations in support of entrepreneurs in West Africa, was key to their future successes, and had been the lifewire for the bloc’s long term economic growth and development.
According to her, the private sector has a huge role to play in terms of economic development and social welfare across the continent, and entrepreneurship is the baby.
“We also believe that they have a crucial role to play on the continent and everything in terms of economic growth and development, entrepreneurship is the number one.
“They are the livewire; they are the live blood; they are the seeds that you plant; and they are the seeds that will germinate and bring forth growth and development on the continent,” she said.
In further efforts to facilitate trade and stimulate economic growth, especially among SMEs across the sub-region, ECOWAS recently unveiled the West African Competitiveness Observatory (WACOB), a digital module.
The business matchmaking module facilitates cross-border collaboration for businesses by promoting products and services and allows them to connect with partners across the sub-region.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, said the platform aimed to enable policymakers and businesses to track countries’ trade competitiveness and new business opportunities.
The observatory, he explained, was a tool intended to connect buyers and sellers of regional value chain products seamlessly and promote regional and international trade.
“We will have the opportunity to explore deep and dive into the observatory and its functionalities, taking into account its enormous potential to connect SMEs and large enterprises that have developed businesses along these value chains, thereby promoting intra-regional trade.
“As we implement the AfCFTA, this tool will also provide support to the private sector to take advantage of the continental market,” Touray said.
ECOWAS has also in collaboration with private sector partners and experts, initiated a framework toward inaugurating the ECOWAS Business Council (EBC), which is expected to serve as the apex body that will articulate the interests of small businesses in the sub-region.
It is also to provide a platform for inclusion of the private sector in the policy dialogue required to boost intraregional and interregional business activities that will facilitate continental integration that is consistent with the objectives of AfCFTA.
“When the EBC becomes operational, West Africa will add to the number of business councils in Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs).
“The goal of EBC is to create an ECOWAS business community that is globally competitive, regionally integrated and capable of leading the process for the emergence of West Africa as a preferred investment destination globally with high standard of living,” ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mrs Massandje Toure-Litse, said.
ECOWAS Director, Private Sector Investment, Dr Tony Elumelu, is also of the view that fostering economic growth in the subregion also requires a collaboration between and among investment promotion agencies to drive entrepreneurs to success.
Speaking during a meeting of the technical committee of the Association of Investment Promotion Agencies of West African States (IPAWAS) recently, Elumelu urged member states to foster collaboration, share best practices and drive investment growth.
“Within this framework, we can also speak with one voice in our participation and membership of the Pan-African Investment Agency created by Article 42 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) Investment Pool.
“The ECOWAS Common Investment Market (ECIM) and AfCTA provide us with unprecedented opportunities because by aligning our efforts, streamlining regulations, and promoting cross-border investments, we can unlock the full potential of our region,” he said.
Elumelu also noted that most ECOWAS member states were dependent on tourism, which is capital intensive, a high income earner, and called for collaboration between the ECOWAS Commission, the private sector and member states to boost tourism, bolster entrepreneurship and West Africa’s overall economic growth.
“It is worthy of note that the bloc has signed into the continental free trade. The beauty of it is the enabling text, the flagship protocol, which creates room for tourism to thrive, and the protocol of free movement of persons, which also gives you the right to stay, enter, stay and establish businesses,” he said.
ECOWAS is not alone in the race to leverage the opportunities, which AfCFTA has availed the SMEs to thrive and blossom into big firms that will produce the next generation of West African business colossuses.
For instance, Nigeria, under the immediate past administration, inaugurated the digital economy and e-government, aimed at boosting the growth of businesses in Nigeria and help to enhance the government’s new cashless policy.
While inaugurating the digital economy and e-government, the then Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, said that with full implementation, the policy would boost business growth and help enhance Nigeria’s cashless policy.
Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Trade and Industry, said that mainstreaming gender in regional trade policies was crucial to creating the enabling environment for a plethora of businesses to thrive and ultimately achieving an economically robust, prosperous and equitable West Africa.
Declaring open a regional meeting on trade and gender recently, she said that gender mainstreaming in trade was in line with not just ECOWAS but Nigeria’s trade facilitation policy, and described international trade as a powerful driver for wealth creation and development at both national and sub-regional levels.
“This will contribute to positive gender and youth impact of AfCFTA through women and youth led-business activities, employment and social protection as well as informal cross-border traders,” she added.
Stakeholders therefore express the view that the 2024 SMEs exhibition organised by ECOWAS, ESBC, and the Ivorian government, which is scheduled to hold in the country’s capital, Abidjan, from Nov. 21 to 23, provides a golden opportunity for SMEs to hit the ground running leveraging AfCFTA’s takeoff.
Developing SMEs alongside other initiatives already put in place by ECOWAS, they said, would open the floodgates for the emergence of new millionaires in West Africa, who would boost subregional economic growth and integration.
