The vast majority of SMEs in Africa are women owned. According to the World Bank, 58% of all MSMEs in Africa are women-owned. However, this does not translate to profits as their enterprises are deemed 34% less profitable than men’s due to myriad of challenges. From unequal legal frameworks, inadequate financial support, cultural barriers, lack of social networks, to limited access to training and business related support, all factors that undermine their potential to contribute to Africa’s industrialization and economic development.
To quote AUDA-NEPAD CEO Nardo Bekele-Thomas, “Inclusive and sustainable Industrialization, that places women and youth at the Center, represents a game changer to propel development in Africa, diversify our economies, increase job opportunities and strengthen our resilience against shocks and crises.”
To this end, and in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 framework for Africa’s economic transformation, AUDA NEPAD organized the ‘Women In Processing’ trainings on the margins of the 2022 Africa Industrialization Week to equip women SME owners from different part of the continent with a wide range of business support skills to help accelerate their paths to industrialization and contribute to intra-African trade.
During the event, we caught up with Diarietou Youm from the Agency for the Development and Supervision of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (ADEPME). Hailing from Senegal, Diarietou is in charge of formalization of SMEs at the agency whose mission is to promotes the development of SMES in Africa. She shared her thoughts on the need for value addition, the importance of intra-African trade, among other things.
What’s taking place here today?
This morning, we had a workshop for SMEs on developing branding for your enterprise and product development. The SME owners were also taken through sales and business expansion.
Why do you think capacity-building events such as this is important for women SME owners?
It’s important for these types of enterprise because they do not have the financial resources to afford this kind of expertise. And in this occasion, they can have specialists, share experience with each other, and they also have the chance to express themselves and share the difficulties they come across in managing their companies. They can broaden their networks and have contacts in other countries that will help them expand their markets.
What has been the highlight of the event for you so far?
So far we have met organisations and entrepreneurs from different countries. I think it’s a very good opportunity in Africa to have a Pan African organisation that organized this kind of event for Africa with Africans. I think it’s fantastic.
Why is intra-African trade important for SMEs?
Our SMEs export their products mostly in Europe. It is therefore important to inform these entrepreneurs, about the potential we have in Africa because we have many similarities in the way we dress, the food we eat, and sometimes even the same language, for example Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso have a lot of similarities. So it’s more adequate to think of the neighborhood first, before thinking of Europe or America.
What challenges lie for SMEs when it comes to in Intra-African trade? How can they be supported to benefit from the AfCFTA?
The AfCFTA can be a positive thing of course, but at the same time, these businesses are too small to compete with other bigger companies that have the support of policies and funds. Therefore they need public policies to support and promote them, as well as the amplification of local commercial banks to give them more loans that are adequate for their size.
Why is it important for African SMEs to carryout product value addition?
It’s important because when we sell the raw materials, the same material come back to us manufactured and we buy it two or three times more expensive. Most of the times you find, we just need some financial and technological resources to transform these products. We don’t need vast resources; sometimes it’s just small equipment, with some form of technology that can help us to add value to our products.
What do you think the future holds for Africa’s industrialization with regards to the AfCFTA?
I think we have potential for growth in different industries whether it is pharmaceutical, food, entertainment and creative. We have the potential to produce products for our market from our vast natural resources. The potential is limitless, we don’t need to go anywhere to search for customers; we have enough people, tools and products to develop our economies.
