As part of efforts to promote women’s empowerment in the African Continental Free Trade Area, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, has launched the HerAfCFTA initiative in Nigeria with a $1m seed investment.
The HerAfCFTA initiative aims to enhance women’s participation in trade and economic activities, promoting gender equality and inclusive economic growth across the continent.
According to UNDP officials, the initiative, which was launched in Lagos recently, will be implemented in collaboration with the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture and UN Women, adding that HerAfCFTA was dedicated to enhancing trade and investment, with a particular focus on empowering women and youth-owned businesses.
In a statement, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ahunna Eziakonwa, stated that the initiative underscored the importance of collective effort in securing a prosperous future for women in the unified African market.
According to her, the UNDP will also source partners to invest in the initiative thereby, yielding more positive results for both women and youth who own small and medium scale enterprises, SME’s.
While noting that there would be catalytic funding for women’s chambers of commerce, industry, mines and agriculture to advance a pipeline of investment-ready businesses, Eziakonwa disclosed that the UNDP is also seeking a partnership with the Nigeria Postal Services to repurpose selected post centres into one-stop shops for access to public services.
She said if the many idle post offices across the nation was utilized for purposes peculiar to the initiative, it would be of utmost importance not just to the organisation but also for women and youth across the nation.
Eziakonwa said, “this is just a seed investment. We are going to invite many more partners to invest in this initiative, as the plan is to provide support for women-owned SMEs and direct support to 300 women-owned SMEs through comprehensive trade readiness and capacity development programs.
“There are so many idle post offices across this nation. We are going to transform them all into market hubs, and that in itself is an innovation. These initiatives are more than just an investment. We are also looking at a commitment to creating a more inclusive and prosperous future for women and youth entrepreneurs, driving sustainable economic development and growth across Africa,”
On her part, the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, in a recent statement, said Africa accounts for just two per cent of global trade, adding that the AfCFTA aims to change this by promoting inter-African trade.
According to her, AfCFTA, which is focused on job creation and SME competitiveness, isn’t just about numbers but that it is about people.
She said, “As we integrate more effectively into the global economy, we enhance our competitiveness on the world stage. For investment and consumer spending, the International Trade Center estimates that AfCFTA’s target market comprises 1.27 billion people and is projected to rise to 1.7 trillion by the year 2030.
“Africa’s aggregate GDP is expected to reach $6.7 trillion. Africa will attract about $4tn in investment and consumer spending.
“By facilitating job creation and empowering African small, and medium-sized enterprises, Nigeria can lift ordinary citizens across the country, she added.
Speaking on the HerAfCFTA initiative, Uzoka-Anite, represented by the CEO of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Nonye Ayeni, averred that the HerAfCFTA initiative was a commitment to ensuring that women are not just participants but are leaders in the new era of inter-African trade.
“Our approach is holistic, addressing policy support, trade facilitation, business networking, investment opportunities and digitalisation. We recommend that for women to thrive in every AfCFTA framework, we must dismantle barriers that have long hindered their full participation in trade,” she added.
According to a 2022 report by UN Women, UNDP and the AfCFTA Secretariat, women small business owners, often encounter significant challenges with 31.9 per cent reporting violence or aggression, particularly in informal cross-border trade, of which 70 per cent is carried out by women.
