HOW YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS AND INNOVATORS CAN MAKE THE AFCFTA ‘MAGIC’ HAPPEN

It is no longer news that thirty-five countries of the African Union have ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement, which is a free trade area policy founded in 2018 to create a single continental market for goods and services. It promises to enable free movement of business persons and investments while potentially being the world's largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization. Despite the fact that there are several issues surrounding the optimistic success of the AFCFTA operation, gender mainstreaming is one of the most critical aspects that must not be ignored if we must record great success in this endeavor. In order to put a little perspective, we should define Gender mainstreaming according to Wikipedia “a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated”. Now, let’s bring it down into the implementation and operationalization of AFCFTA, as we hope to achieve gender equality and encourage the active participation of both genders in the day-to-day operation of the African Continental Free Trade Area program so as to maximize the wealth of experience and talent required for the success of the program. 

To begin with, I will like to quote a popular African proverb that talks about the need to start incorporating and engaging gender in politics and decision making “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation”. The proverb speaks to the importance of investing in women while also doing that for men, for the collective development of the society. It cannot be denied that the role of women in the public spaces and parastatals in Africa has for long been doubted and restricted by virtue of society’s interpretation of power along gender lines.  Therefore, gender mainstreaming should be seen as organizational change; hence, our perception of women’s capabilities needs to change for good, as it is obvious, women have been playing leading role in shaping our nations. In history, discussions concerning international agreements, peacekeeping arrangements and legal resolutions have been responsible for stereotypes that disempower women, thereby resulting to some sort of underdevelopment and snail-race growth in most Africa countries. For example, hardly will you find equal participation of women in top level of governance in Africa or even in any other part of the world, we rather prefer to leave them at home in our kitchens or in the “Other room”, another word for bedroom as described by one of our leaders. 

Another point to consider is that economic development is highly achieved when women enter the marketplace, as it has been proven that women’s economic participation decreases the dependency ratio and improves the proportion of wage earners to dependents.  In addition, women's participation in post Covid-19 nation-building is an important ingredient in achieving an equitable, peaceful and more prosperous African society. For instance, if women are included in the labor force and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, more families will be lifted out of the cycle of poverty, seeing that men alone can no longer cater for the financial needs of the family due to inflation, currency devaluation and globalization of skills. For a very long time in our history as humans, the society defined power, decision making and authority as terms that connotes masculinity and maleness, therefore excluding women in the exercise of these very important social duties. But surprisingly, women-owned businesses have been said to be the world fastest growing businesses around the world and most part of African, making significant contribution in the form of employment, innovation, and wealth generation. This can be seen in the businesses owned by Folorunsho Alakija- Nigeria, Bethlemen Tilahun- Ethiopia, Divine Ndhlukuka- Zimbabwe, Isabel Do Santos- Angola, Julian Adyeri- Uganda, Salwa Akhannouch- Morocco, Saran Kaba- Liberia, Sibongile Sambo- South Africa and Tabitha Karanja- Kenya. 

In conclusion, in order to make the AFCFTA magic happen, gender diversity, gender equality and/or gender mainstreaming must be top on the list of policies to embrace. Even though recently women have become actively involved in politics unlike before, nevertheless, they still face certain challenges that limits their chances and opportunities, which psychologically kills their morale. However, the role of women in our continent can be re-instated and accorded respect seeing that women entrepreneurs play a significant role in job creation, family upbringing, wealth, poverty reduction, human capital development, education and societal development especially in developing countries. Therefore, a robust and consistent commitment to gender mainstreaming is an important and effective means for African nations to support the promotion of gender equality at all levels - in policy development, research, governance, and in other societal empowerment activities, and to ensure that women as well as men can influence, participate and benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement development efforts. 

Article written by Daniel Akinjise