Footprint to Africa, a leading business and financial news resource and investment bridge company, has launched ‘The Marketsquare Africa’ and ‘Africa in 10 Minutes’ targeted at advancing its objective of promoting intra-African and foreign investments towards building a stronger Africa.
At the launch of the two initiatives in Lagos at the weekend, the company reiterated its commitment to its vision of an economically unified Africa as well as showcasing the limitless opportunities for trade and partnerships to local and foreign investors.
Osita Oparaugo, president and CEO, Footprint to Africa Limited, explained that The Marketsquare Africa is designed to help Africa’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) overcome the challenge of access to finance which continues to hinder their growth, as well as reduce dependency on loans by forming joint ventures, partnerships, creating synergies and increasing sales; while Africa in 10 Minutes is an online television station that provides a weekly recap of the top business stories from across the continent in a 10-minute package.
He said the unavailability of proper investment and financial information about Africa was a major barrier to foreign direct investment, a barrier which he said Footprint to Africa is poised to eliminate.
“Footprint to Africa is dedicated to reporting strictly business and financial news as it relates to investment in Africa in order to make available more information about the massive but untapped investment opportunities in the continent,” Oparaugo said, adding that the company’s news portal has witnessed over 12.6 million visits in the last 18 months of operation.
He called on SMEs to logon to The Marketsquare Africa platform to network, share business information, find partners, sign MoUs, form synergies and grow their businesses.
Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, lauded the vision behind Footprint to Africa, saying as someone who had always hungered for the day Africa would be connected, he hoped that the day had become much closer with the launch of The Marketsquare Africa.
“I am particularly fascinated by the whole idea of having The Marketsquare Africa because when I listened to all the ideas that it will be helping to push in terms of networking and relationship building, connecting people, connecting businesses, especially when you focus on SMEs, I can tell it is something that is very much needed,” Enelamah said.
Bethel Amadi, a former member of the House of Representative and former president of Pan-African Parliament, while speaking on the topic ‘Integrating Africa through Trade: A Parliamentary Perspective’, described The Marketsquare Africa as a “worthy initiative for providing one marketplace for African businesses”.
Regretting that Africa was yet to find a common platform for integration, Amadi stressed that trade remains the single biggest factor that can integrate the people of Africa.
“Just as The Marketsquare Africa aims to bring businesspeople from all over the world together on a virtual platform to interact and do business, so also is it important that the various countries of Africa begin to work together to ensure that all barriers to free movement of people, goods and services across the continent are eliminated,” he said.
Introducing The Marketsquare Africa earlier, Chiamaka J. Uwadoka, project coordinator, Footprint to Africa, described it as “a great tool for local and international entrepreneurs and business managers to find agents, customers, investors and foster relationships that would develop their individual businesses”.
Uwadoka explained that there are two classes of membership on The Marketsquare Africa platform. While the general class is totally free but allows the user to upload text only, the premium class attracts a fee of $75 per annum and allows the user to upload pictures of products, etc, she said.
“Since its inception in 2014, Footprint to Africa has provided global business leaders with business news, analyses, interviews, strategic insight and information on investment in Africa, following key stories from government houses and agencies to boardrooms and to the very streets of Africa’s busiest cities,” said Milly W. Maina, head of operations, Footprint to Africa Kenya.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
