Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the creation of an emblematic Made-in-Africa brand that will promote intra-African trade and boost the international export of African products.
Speaking at the Intra-African Trade Fair 2021 (IATF2021), Chief Obasanjo says having a Made-in-Africa brand would instill a sense of pride in each African country.
He adds that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is working to remove the divisions that were brought about by colonialism, where Africa had been divided into regions based on the languages of the colonisers.
Gwen Mwaba, Afreximbank’s director and global head for trade finance, comments that Africa has an abundance of ideas but often did not have the know-how to convert them into viable and profitable businesses, resulting in lost intellectual property.
Mwaba describes the challenge as three-pronged: “Africans have a plethora of good ideas that are not followed-up. For those that are followed up, the good ideas are not sustained; and the few good ideas that are followed-up and sustained are often not rigorously maintained.”
She suggestes the use of education to address the intellectual property challenge in Africa, saying that the resulting business ideas could be harnessed and given a chance at success with the support available from Afreximbank.
Mwaba adds that Africa needs more industrial development zones, built by the public sector, where the cost of production and manufacturing is reduced, and several countries could combine their industrial strengths to meet common goals.
“By leveraging innovative multi-country collaborative models, African countries can start to manufacture and export products to the rest of the world,” she urges. “Asia has done this successfully with brands such as Hyundai, whose vehicle components are manufactured and assembled by different entities, all working to leverage their individual capabilities.”
Ebenezer Tafili, deputy director: capacity building at the World Customs Organisation, says the kind of operating environment needed to allow Africa’s ideas to flourish and leverage the free trade agreement was one where the political will of each country matched its potential to grow its manufacturing sector.
“The AfCFTA needs political will to support its success, which requires collaborative private-public partnerships to ensure viability,” he says. “Without a strategy to change policy and allow for more manufacturing and industrialisation, the notion that Africans are merely consumers and not producers will continue to exist.”