A total of 17 African-Americans in the diaspora, specifically from the United States and the Caribbean nations present in Niamey in Niger during the official launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement have expressed interest in considerably investing towards the success of the policy.
This was revealed by the African Union Trade and Industry Commissioner, Ambassador Albert M. Muchanga during a recent consultative National Conference on the implementation of key policies in the AfCFTA designed to focus Ghana’s collective efforts on specific actions and policies needed to be taken in Ghana to implement the agreement.
Among the sectors being targeted by the diasporans for immediate investment include the automobile industry, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Information Communication Technology among other sectors.
Between now and 2023, a total of 600,000 SME businesses are expected to be created across the continent. According to Ambassador Muchanga, each SME is expected to create a minimum of five jobs, which translates to at least three million new jobs.
Since Ghana is hosting the secretariat, it is expected that the country stands at an advantageous position to maximise total benefits in the process in the sense that the secretariat will play a crucial role in such businesses coming on stream.
Instructively, a key prominent individual among the group has already initiated steps to set up factories for producing automotive components across the African continent which will in turn serve as a source of employment for many.
Though Ambassador Muchanga did not mention the exact countries where the factories will be sited, he stressed that the African youth must embrace the free trade framework for the opportunities coming.
Another African-American in the diaspora has developed a payment platform for e-commerce and processes are already in place to set up online export trading companies across the continent for professionals in the ICT industry in the continent to maximise opportunities created in the sector.
