Making the AfCFTA an economic opportunity for women entrepreneurs
70% to 80% of informal cross-border trade in Africa is run by women. Their economic contribution is indisputable, particularly active in agri-food, crafts, fashion and service. As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is paving the way for significant business opportunities, women's entrepreneurship faces specific challenges.
That's why it's up to leaders to promote women's empowerment as a cornerstone of sustainable, equitable growth. In Dakar, the NTF V Senegal Tech project, in collaboration with the ITC SheTrades Initiative, has supported the Ministry of Commerce and SMEs in developing an inclusive action plan in which digital technology plays an important role.
With the AfCFTA, a new economic era dawns
The African Continental Free Trade Area is the promise of a unified market of 1.3 billion people across the entire continent. As Africa's economic transformation gets underway, voices are being raised to ensure that the status of women is better considered and that the benefits of economic growth are equitably distributed.
Highly active in informal cross-border trade, women face numerous obstacles: limited access to financing, lack of information on business opportunities, limited access to digital tools, and disparities in education and training. Integrating women into the deployment of the AfCFTA therefore requires consideration of their specific challenges. To kick-start a gender dynamic in trade and investment, the NTF V Senegal Tech Project has initiated a series of dialogues in Dakar with the Ministry in charge of trade and small businesses.
Taking gender considerations into account in trade agreements
Bringing together a broad community of Senegalese women entrepreneurs, as well as national organizations and state agencies, in a series of three inclusive policy dialogues, the exchanges successfully led to the formalization of an action plan. According to Fatou Mboup, Secretary of the Union des Femmes Cheffes d'Entreprises au Sénégal (Union of Women Business Leaders in Senegal), the initiative is a step in the right direction.
‘This plan, the fruit of constructive dialogue between public and private players, will help improve women entrepreneurs' access to regional markets, strengthen their ability to seize the opportunities offered by the AfCFTA and promote gender equality in international trade,’ she said.
To achieve this, a number of priorities have been identified, including:
- Map out the women involved in intra-African trade,
- Better communicate the opportunities offered to women by the AfCFTA,
- Strengthen access to training and financing,
- Encourage the adoption of digital technology and e-commerce.
Officially launched on 1 August 2024 and supported by the Ministry, this action plan will be monitored by a steering committee. Ansou Souba Badji, Director of Foreign Trade, is delighted with this achievement and stands ready to cooperate.
‘The Senegalese Government has already demonstrated its commitment to inclusive trade,’ Badji said. ‘We remain fully prepared to collaborate with the steering committee and take its recommendations into account in our work program.’
The Netherlands Trust Fund V (NTF) program (July 2021 – June 2025) is based on a partnership between the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Trade Centre. NTF V supports SMEs in the digital technology and agribusiness sectors in Benin, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Uganda. Its ambition is to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable transformation of agri-food systems partly through digital solutions, to improve the international competitiveness of local tech start-ups and to support the implementation of the export strategy of IT&BPO companies.
