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Experts highlight opportunities in intra-Africa trade

By on June 5, 2014

African business leaders have advocated more private sector participation in intra-Africa trade to unlock the untapped potential of the continent.

The experts, who spoke at the Africa Business Conference (ABC) 2014 tagged “African Lions Arising: Driving Private Sector Growth through Enhanced Intra-Africa Trade,” held  in Lagos,recently, advised African entrepreneurs to look inwards and take advantage of opportunities in sectors ranging from energy, media and entertainment to manufacturing and agri-business, among others.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nedo highlighted the numerous investment opportunities in the continent’s power sector, which he said were exploitable if only players could scale national and regional boundaries to leverage on their respective areas of strength.

The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, urged young entrepreneurs to creatively invest in the sector, which he said was more robust and viable due to the recent privatisation exercise.

“There is much potential for Africa to play a dominant role in energy. The AU’s vision is that by 2020 – through interaction and sustainable development of African endowments – we’ll take our people out of darkness and give 50 percent of them access to light,” he said.

Continuing, he added: “We now have a power sector that offers young entrepreneurs in Nigeria and Africa the best of reasons to showcase their creativity and benefit from Africa’s biggest market.”

On his part, the Director, East Africa Exchange, Rod Gravelet-Blondin urged African entrepreneurs to put forward solutions and suggestions that would propel the continent’s growth.

Gravelet-Blondin observed   the stagnation of intra-Africa trade over the years.
In his estimation, the continent needs to develop processing plants for its natural resources so that trade within Africa would stay in Africa.

“It does not necessarily mean putting a processing plant in Nigeria. It might mean Nigeria financing a processing plant in a neighbouring country.
By so doing, we will increase trade within the region without losing all our natural resources,” he explained.

For the Country Director, Nigeria Country Office of the African Development Bank, Dr Ousmane Dore, African entrepreneurs should give thought to product fragmentation and vertical specialisation in the production process.
He also recommended deeper economic and social reforms and relaxed supply constraints to boost intra-Africa trade.

The ABC is a flagship event at Lagos Business School, which aims to imbibe in participants an in-depth understanding of both local and global business trends, as well as the ability to apply international best practices to solve domestic problems in a sustainable way.

 

 

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