Business leaders from various sectors across Africa have urged their counterparts to embrace business collaboration in order to boost multilateral trade and investment in African countries.
Experts who spoke at the Africa Netpreneur conference organised by the Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma Foundation, held in Accra, Ghana at the weekend, said that determination to foster multilateral trade between countries in the continent and globally would help grow small businesses and greatly improve Africa’s economy.
Ban-ki Moon, the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations said: “The greatest opportunities are found in the challenges that we face now as global citizens. We should leverage global partnerships, as we cannot do it alone, not a single individual or a single nation can be successful unless we are all united”.
Speaking on the aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Moon said: “The SDGs are to make sure that no nation is left behind whether you are rich or poor in this world. Entrepreneurs and the youth are the most critical in achieving the SDGs.”
“Africa will develop its own models as well as its own solutions which I believe will be better than what exists in the world today. We are positioned better with the opportunities available to leverage technology in building the continent. This ecosystem needs to be constructed and interconnected across Africa so that the continent can gain a competitive advantage by working together rather than in competition. So many more African business heroes will be created in the coming years. Too much competition for completion sake can kill a thriving ecosystem,” he said.
During the panel discussion, Martin Simela, founder and CEO of Brastorne Enterprises and Alibaba eFounder fellow, said: We need a more connected Africa with ease of doing business across borders. We need smart regulation that is more beneficial.”
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“Things like urbanisation and population growth are expected to happen and that is why we need to think and invest in digital tools and technology for every industry. Education, agriculture, energy, and smart logistics are highly important,” he said.
In a number of African countries, the number of unemployed is about 17 percent but the underemployed are almost half of the population. These are people that are working for virtually nothing. This is a situation that industry analysts say collaboration to promote businesses across border will easily address.
According to James Mwangi, executive director, Dalberg Group Africa, needs to unite and come to the aid of each other.
“Most of the funds in Africa are provided by foreign investors. We need to start having more African funding,” he said.
Patrick Awuah, founder of Asheshi University, who was also on the panel to discuss ‘shaping Africa’s future,’ said “it is really important that we try to achieve a common market in Africa. It’s really important that the future of Africa understand each other and that’s why we should ensure that our youths are educated across the board.”
