Africa is opening the doors to one of the world’s largest markets — its own. The African Continental Free Trade Area is creating new opportunities for African businesses to sell, grow and create jobs across the continent.
For years, African countries have traded more easily with markets outside the continent than with one another.
That is changing.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is designed to bring African economies closer together by creating a single market for goods and services.
It is one of the most important steps toward Agenda 2063 Moonshot 2: An Integrated Africa.
Africa can trade more with Africa
Think about a farmer producing cocoa in Ghana, a clothing company in Kenya or a food processor in Côte d’Ivoire.
Their biggest opportunity may not always be thousands of kilometres away.
It could be another African country.
A larger continental market gives African businesses more customers to sell to and more room to expand.
For small and growing businesses, this can make a major difference.
A company that has reached the limits of its national market can look beyond its borders without having to leave the continent.
More trade can mean more jobs
The value of AfCFTA is not simply measured by how many goods cross borders.
The bigger opportunity is what happens before and after those goods are sold.
More demand can encourage businesses to produce more. More production can support factories, farms, transport companies, warehouses, technology providers and other services.
That can create jobs and new businesses.
It can also encourage African countries to process more of their raw materials instead of exporting them and importing finished products.
But the agreement is only the beginning
Free trade does not automatically mean easy trade.
Businesses still face challenges such as poor transport links, border delays, different regulations, limited access to finance and unreliable electricity.
These barriers must be addressed if African businesses are to take full advantage of the continental market.
The success of AfCFTA will therefore depend not only on agreements between governments, but also on the infrastructure and systems that allow businesses to use them.
A market built by Africans
Africa has a huge consumer market and a young population.
The opportunity is to turn that market into a powerful engine for African production, African businesses and African jobs.
Moonshot 2 is about more than removing trade barriers.
It is about creating an Africa where countries produce together, trade together and grow together.
The continent’s biggest market may have been in front of it all along.
Africa itself.