BusinessDay’s African Business Convention to prepare businesses for AfCFTA

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which took off January 1, 2021, has been widely touted as the enabler countries need to rapidly expand intra-African trade and overcome barriers to doing business. However, there is a need to have businesses communicate their expectations and fears to policymakers, in ensuring the trade agreement delivers on its expected prospects. There are also knowledge gaps on implementation of the agreement and how businesses can key in.

The African Business Convention (ABC), being organised by BusinessDay next month, will among other things meet this objective, as it has been designed to be a melting pot for all forms, sizes and aspirations of all African businesses.

While there are many gatherings and conferences that focus on the different dimensions of Africa – economy, business, leadership, etc, the ABC will be focusing on the businesses themselves and the issues and parameters that drive their performance. The underline notion and motivation is in recognition that the progress in African economies, including the reduction in poverty and the increase in employment, will come from its businesses. When its businesses do well, the economies will do well.

Between February 9 and 10, BusinessDay will convene (virtually) some of the continent’s business leaders who will over the coming years be relied on to deliver unmet business needs across the continent. They will be required to provide solutions via innovation while building long-term resilience (such as strategies for vertical integration) to their business models.

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According to the World Bank, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world in 2018 were in Africa, with Ghana ranking number one, while five of the 10 most improved countries, in the World Bank’s 2019 Doing Business index, are in Africa.

African companies have become new drivers of economic growth, and the continent is home to over 700 large companies. A study from McKinsey Global Institute in 2016 revealed that large companies in Africa are growing faster than their peers in the rest of the world, raking in $1.4 trillion in annual profits and contributing to government taxes and higher wages.

However, despite the continuous growth, Africa is still heavily under-represented in global business, in both the number and size of large companies, which are needed to drive growth.

The ABC will therefore be a platform to strengthen dialogue between governments and organised businesses in Africa, with the aim of removing barriers to investment and enabling the growth and prosperity of African businesses. It will also drive discourse that will help set the agenda for businesses in Africa, for the year ahead.